Effects of invertebrate predation on the seasonal succession of a zooplankton community: a two year study in Lake Aydat, France

✍ Scribed by Nicole Lair

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1990
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 892 KB
• Volume: 198
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1573-5141
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00048618

✦ Synopsis

Direct observations on living animals, examination of gut contents, spatio-temporal distribution analysis, demographic data and a two year comparative study of zooplankton population dynamics illustrate the importance of invertebrate predation on the seasonal succession of the zooplankton in Lake Aydat, Central Massif, France . Three invertebrate predators living in this eutrophic lake contribute to regulate the populations' development . The rotifer Asplanchna priodonta exerts a predation pressure on Keratella cochlearis, Polyarthra remata and P. dolichoptera . The copepod Cyclops vicinus vicinus exerts a predation pressure on the latter two rotifer species . The larvae of the Dipteran Chaoborus cristallinus consumes A . priodonta, Kellicottia longispina, B . longirostris, D . longispina, C. quadrangula and ovigerous females of C. vicinus vicinus . We also hypothesize that adults of Acanthodiaptomus denticornis, which consume large ciliates in this lake, contribute to the rotifer decline at the end of summer . The interactions between invertebrate predators and their preys are reflected in quantitative changes in community dynamics .