Background: Cladocera is an important group of freshwater zooplankton, and the species plays an important role in energy transfer and in aquatic food webs. Oxyurella longicaudis is a Chydoridae species that has been recorded in North and South America. The aim of this study is to investigate the life cycle aspects of parthenogenetic females of O. longicaudis cultured in laboratory under controlled conditions: temperature (23°C ± 05°C), photoperiod (12 h light/12 h dark), food supply, and reconstituted water. Results: Embryonic development duration (2.3 ± 0.5 days), post-embryonic development (5.2 ± 0.69 days), mean fecundity (two eggs female −1 brood

ABSTRACT. Richness estimators (Jackknife 1, Bootstrap, Chao 1 and ACE) were used to relate zooplankton species richness with amount of water collected per sample and number of samples throughout the year for the limnetic region of Sapucai River compartment of Furnas reservoir, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Seven 100 L samples were collected in sequence using a motor pump, and seven 70 L samples were collected in sequence using a plankton net (68 μm mesh size) in vertical hauls, to totalize 450 L, in three stations of the reservoir. Twelve monthly samplings were carried out over a year. The assessment of richness was made by analyzing the asymptotic behavior of the estimator curves. The samplings reached the asymptote from 350 L of collection with trawls and 400 L using a suction motor pump and reached the plateau on the 8th collection, which included both dry and rainy seasons. Regardless of the type of sampling, the volume of 400 L and eight sessions throughout the year is enough to register 90% of the zooplankton richness in the environment.

AIM: We aimed to evaluate the influence of the correction of the water alkalinity in the fish ponds on the density of zooplankton under a period they were stocked with larvae of Prochilodus lineatus, a neotropical fish called "Curimbatá". METHODS: We used a factorial design completely randomized. In one plot (2 ponds) there was no correction of the alkalinity of the water (20 mg CaCO3.L-1) and in two others, this variable was adjusted weekly to values around 30 and 60 mg CaCO3.L-1 ¹, with two replicates each. Zooplankton was sampled weekly and the experiment lasted 63 days. RESULTS: Significant differences in the density of the zooplankton over time (F = 6.78, p < 0.05) were found and there was a sharp decrease in zooplankton density from first to second week, and successive small increases in density from the fourth week until the end of the experiment. When considering the entire study period, alkalinity correction 60 mg CaCO3.L-1 resulted in higher density of zooplankton. Great changes in zooplankton composition occurred. Rotifera were dominant at the beginning of the experiment and Cladocera and Copepoda in the later weeks possibly due to an interplay of dilution by rain and fish predation in the initial part of the experiment and due to both alkalinity correction and predation by both fish and predatory copepods from the fourth week until the end. CONCLUSION: The experiment corroborated the hypothesis that correction of water alkalinity in ponds does favor zooplankton development but also highlighted biotic and abiotic interaction of factors operating simultaneously.

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Oxyurella longicaudis (Birgei 1910), a species of Chydoridae family, is widely distributed in South and North America. Samples were collected from 40 water bodies in five conservation-priority regions in the south of Minas Gerais state, Brazil, aiming to increase knowledge about Cladocera distribution in this region. O. longicaudis was recorded in three of the 40 sampled water bodies. It is the first record of this species in the state.