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Plankton dynamics in a high mountain lake (Las Yeguas, Sierra Nevada, Spain). Indirect evidence of ciliates as food source for zooplankton
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Cruz-Pizarro, Luis Reche, Isabel Carrillo, Presentación |
| Copyright Year | 2004 |
| Abstract | A detailed sampling programme during the ice-free season (July–September) in the oligotrophic lake Las Yeguas (Southern Spain) has shown a well-defined time lag between phytoplankton and zooplankton maximum standing stocks, the former displaying a peak (23 µgC l-1) just after the ice-melting, and the latter by the end of September (80 µgC l-1).A ratio of autotrophs to heterotrophs lower than 1 which lasted more than two thirds of the study period may suggest a high algal productivity per unit of biomass. The estimated strong top-down regulation of phytoplankton by zooplankton indicates an efficient utilization of resources.A comparative analysis between the available food supply and the critical food concentration that is necessary to maintain the population of Daphnia pulicaria (which constitutes up to 98% of the heterotrophic biomass) proves this species to be food-limited in the lake under study.To explain the dominance (and development) of such large-bodied cladoceran population, we discuss the possibility of the utilization of naked protozoan ciliates (Oligotrichidae) as a complementary high quality food source, and the exploitation of benthic resources through a coupled daily migration behaviour. |
| Starting Page | 29 |
| Ending Page | 35 |
| Page Count | 7 |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| DOI | 10.1007/BF00014624 |
| Volume Number | 274 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://ecologia.ugr.es/pages/publicaciones/publicaciones-pdfs/1994/planktondynamicsinahigh/! |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00014624 |
| Journal | Hydrobiologia |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |