Zooplankton assemblages in two reservoirs: one subjected to accentuated water level fluctuations, the other with more stable water levels

Geraldes, Ana Maria; Boavida, María José

doi:10.1007/s10452-006-9057-z

Cited by 35 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 25 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…This finding agrees with previous studies focused on zooplankton communities in highly fluctuating environments (Geraldes and Boavida, 2007). Strong flood events during the spring season are the main drivers that notably favour the dominance of rotifers in the water column.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

“…Accordingly, a plausible explanation for the absence of correlations in our study may be that the effect of the high flood events in the middle of spring is so strong that the other effects are being masked. There has been evidence that when a water body is characterized by pronounced water fluctuations, those zooplankton organisms with specific, adaptive advantages will dominate the community (Schmid-Araya and Zuñiga, 1992;Bledzki and Ellison, 2000;Geraldes and Boavida, 2007). Several features, including life-history traits and feeding mechanisms, have been pointed out.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Repeated flood disturbance enhances rotifer dominance and diversity in a zooplankton community of a small dammed mountain pond

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The zooplankton community in a relatively small and mountain pond was studied during the spring growing season. To investigate which factors operate in the community structure, we explored several physical conditions, such as high inflows, and the biotic dynamics of the main zooplankton groups (i.e., rotifers, cladocerans and copepods). Two extreme flood events occurred during the investigated period and caused dramatic changes in physical conditions and reduction of the planktonic community abundances. The short period between both high-flow events was enough for the recovery of microplankton, but not for the metazoan zooplankton. Our results are in agreement with the common situation in which high flood events commonly favour rotifers over crustaceans, likely due to rotifer species have great colonization ability and grow faster. However, we found that the dominance of rotifers over crustaceans in our system is evidenced by an extremely, unusual high ratio between their abundances. We observed that, at the time of the great floods, crustacean abundances as well as rotifer populations notably decreased until near zero values. Although rotifer abundance began declining before high floods, the decrease was particularly notable when the great flood happened. Our results evidenced that i) dilution rate and temperature were the main drivers which are operating in the structure of the zooplankton community; and ii) no negative biotic interactions were detected between large and small cladocerans and rotifers. Additionally, we found surprisingly that a repeated disturbance caused by high flood events does increase the species diversity of rotifers. Finally, our study also detected some cues which may indicate that diapausing egg bank is also playing an important role in the zooplankton community, favouring the dominance of rotifers; however, this phenomenon deserves further studies.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Repeated flood disturbance enhances rotifer dominance and diversity in a zooplankton community of a small dammed mountain pond

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Zooplankton abundance, population dynamics, and assemblage composition are all affected by several physical and chemical factors, which are largely influenced by waterlevel fluctuation (Wetzel 2001;Geraldes and Boavida 2007). We observed an increase in the total zooplankton density as well as the density of several individual taxa À similar to a nearby reservoir during a drought-related drawdown (Olds et al 2014) À that could have resulted from the increase in Chl-a concentration (as a measure of phytoplankton biomass).…”

Section: Zooplankton Assemblagementioning

confidence: 99%

The influence of a severe reservoir drawdown on springtime zooplankton and larval fish assemblages in Red Willow Reservoir, Nebraska

DeBoer

Webber

Dixon

et al. 2015

Journal of Freshwater Ecology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Reservoirs can be dynamic systems, often prone to unpredictable and extreme waterlevel fluctuations, and can be environments where survival is difficult for zooplankton and larval fish. Although numerous studies have examined the effects of extreme reservoir drawdown on water quality, few have examined extreme drawdown on both abiotic and biotic characteristics. A fissure in the dam at Red Willow Reservoir in southwest Nebraska necessitated an extreme drawdown; the water level was lowered more than 6 m during a two-month period, reducing reservoir volume by 76%. During the subsequent low-water period (i.e., post-drawdown), spring sampling (AprilÀJune) showed dissolved oxygen concentration was lower, while turbidity and chlorophyll-a concentration were greater, relative to pre-drawdown conditions. Additionally, there was an overall increase in zooplankton density, although there were differences among taxa, and changes in mean size among taxa, relative to pre-drawdown conditions. Zooplankton assemblage composition had an average dissimilarity of 19.3% from pre-drawdown to post-drawdown. The ratio of zero to non-zero catches was greater post-drawdown for larval common carp and for all larval fishes combined, whereas we observed no difference for larval gizzard shad. Larval fish assemblage composition had an average dissimilarity of 39.7% from pre-drawdown to postdrawdown. Given the likelihood that other dams will need repair or replacement in the near future, it is imperative for effective reservoir management that we anticipate the likely abiotic and biotic responses of reservoir ecosystems as these management actions will continue to alter environmental conditions in reservoirs.

show abstract

“…Studies were selected from a Biological Abstract search of articles published from 1999 through 2007 in peer-reviewed journals with the phrase "zooplankton density" in the topic search field. Gonzalez et al 2002;Ferrara et al 2002;Bonecker and Aoyagui 2005;Geraldes and Boavida 2007 Not reported 3 Ha et al 2003;Gophen 2003;Sharma and Bhattarai 2005 Total 23 until at least 500 individuals were counted. Biomass estimates dry weight) were obtained using published length-mass estimates (Dumont et al 1975, Downing andRigler 1984).…”

Section: Chick Et Almentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the 1970s, several studies demonstrated that mesh sizes commonly used to sample crustacean zooplankton (e.g., ≥ 63 µm) underestimate the abundance of rotifers, and recommended mesh sizes ≤ 35 µm for quantitative sampling of rotifers (Likens and Gilbert 1970;Bottrell et al 1976;Ejsmont-Karabin 1978). Despite these recommendations, many studies still report quantitative estimates of rotifer density or biomass based on samples filtered through mesh sizes > 35 µm, including mesh as large as 63 to 80 µm (Bonecker and Lansac-Toha 1996;Ghadouani et al 1998;Shurin 2000;Strecker et al 2004;Geraldes and Boavida 2007). To illustrate the extent of this problem, we used Biological Abstracts BIOSIS to search for articles published from 1999 through 2007 in peer-reviewed journals with the phrase "zooplankton density" in the topic search field.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Underestimation of rotifer abundance a much greater problem than previously appreciated

Chick¹,

Levchuk²,

Medley

et al. 2010

Limnology & Ocean Methods

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Although rotifers are important components of aquatic food webs and suitable sampling methods have been described and tested in the peer-reviewed literature, they are frequently overlooked or quantified with improper methods (e.g., mesh sizes ≥ 63 µm) in freshwater ecology studies. As a result, we believe that the role of rotifers in aquatic food webs and ecosystem processes remains underappreciated, and this conceptual shortfall is exacerbated by the continued use of improper sampling methodology. We examined density and biomass estimates of metazoan zooplankton in the Upper Mississippi and Missouri rivers from two sampling methods. The macrozooplankton method was designed to target cladocerans, adult and juvenile copepods, by filtering 180 L water through a 63-µm mesh. The microzooplankton method was designed to target rotifers and copepod nauplii by filtering 18 L water through a 20-µm mesh. The macrozooplankton method underestimated the density and biomass of common rotifers by two to three orders of magnitude, a far greater amount of error than reported in previous studies. This bias in density estimates for rotifers decreased with increasing mean length of rotifers. The microzooplankton method proved to be ineffective for quantifying cladoceran species richness or cladoceran density at the species level. We urge aquatic ecologists to match their sampling methodology with the specific goals of their study. An accurate understanding of the role of rotifers in freshwater ecosystems will only be possible when the use of appropriate methodology becomes the rule rather than the exception.

show abstract

Zooplankton assemblages in two reservoirs: one subjected to accentuated water level fluctuations, the other with more stable water levels

Abstract: The abundance, composition and dynamics of zooplankton were followed in two reservoirs of the River Douro catchment.

Cited by 35 publications

References 25 publications

Repeated flood disturbance enhances rotifer dominance and diversity in a zooplankton community of a small dammed mountain pond

Repeated flood disturbance enhances rotifer dominance and diversity in a zooplankton community of a small dammed mountain pond

The influence of a severe reservoir drawdown on springtime zooplankton and larval fish assemblages in Red Willow Reservoir, Nebraska

Underestimation of rotifer abundance a much greater problem than previously appreciated

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About