analisar a influência da quantidade e qualidade do alimento sobre os parâmetros de tabela de vida de duas espécies de cladóceros encontradas no lago, utilizando o séston de cada zona. Fatores físicos e químicos do séston também foram avaliados no período dos experimentos. D. birgei mostrou preferência pela zona litorânea e D. ambigua pela zona limnética, enquanto C. richardi e D. gessneri não apresentaram preferência significativa.A qualidade do alimento não influenciou de maneira negativa o desenvolvimento de C. richardi e D. birgei, no período dos experimentos, podendo não ser o fator responsável por sua distribuição no lago. Já D. birgei apresentou diferenças significativas entre as zonas, quanto ao total de neonatos por fêmea, fecundidade média e máximo de neonatos por prole. Dessa maneira, a zona litorânea do lago Monte Alegre mostrou-se propícia ao desenvolvimento de cladóceros planctônicos; a qualidade do séston nesta zona não influencia de maneira negativa os parâmetros de tabela de vida de C. richardi e D. birgei.
Palavras-chave: Zooplâncton, Tabela de vida, Séston, Variação espacial, Cladóceros
ABSTRACTThis work is divided into two chapters. The first deals with the spatial distribution of planktonic microcrustaceans in the littoral and limnetic zones of the Lake Monte Alegre, located in Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, and the influence of abiotic and biotic factors on the development and distribution. This chapter uses data from , concerning the limnetic zone and is a manuscript to be submitted for publication; the data analyzed in this study were those related to the littoral zone, as well as all the statistical analysis for comparison between the two zones. Weekly samples of zooplankton and their invertebrate predators, obtained in the same period in both zones were analyzed for one year, with the aim of studying the fluctuation throughout the year, its reproduction and which species of planktonic microcrustaceans occupy the littoral; physical and chemical factors were evaluated in the same period of the plankton samples to determine the conditions for the organisms in the two zones. The most abundant planktonic microcrustaceans distributed in both zones, Bosmina tubicen and Diaphanosoma birgei showing preference for the littoral, while Daphnia gessneri was more abundant in the limnetic zone and Ceriodaphnia richardi and Daphnia ambigua were indifferent, regarding both zones. Copepods occupied preferentially the pelagic zone. Higher concentration of algal carbon was recorded in the limnetic zone in relation to the littoral zone, but some algae may have indigestible features. Our data indicate that the shoreline of the lake has favorable conditions for the development of planktonic cladocerans, and the preference of some species for this area could be a strategy to reduce predation by limnetic invertebrates. Although the littoral has other predators, mortality in the limnetic zone might be higher. Chapter two presents the horizontal distribution of planktonic microcrustaceans, especially cladocerans, in t...