engleski

Comparison of zooplankton functional response traits in deep lakess across Europe

Freshwater zooplankton has a central position in lake food webs and plays key role in the matter cycling and energy transfer from phytoplankton to top predators. The use of zooplankton functional traits has been increasingly described to characterize and understanding of zooplankton assemblage in different waterbodies. Population dynamics, abundance fluctuations and food web interactions are useful traits to assess zooplankton response mechanisms to environmental changes and internal ecosystem functioning. Since functional response traits are still not commonly used in zooplankton ecology, the aims of this study were: (i) to assess the latitudinal patterns of the zooplankton functional feeding guilds in deep lakes in Europe, and (ii) to compare trophic structure related to internal nutrient loading and latitudinal climate conditions, from south to north: oligotrophic Lake Ohrid (Macedonia), mesotrophic lakes Shkodra (Albania) and Visovac (Croatia) and eutrophic Góreckie Lake (Poland). Domination of raptorial (algivorous and predator) species suggests negative relationship with higher trophic level, and dominance of microphagous zooplankton was observed in more productive lakes. Our results suggest further application of functional traits in the assessment of zooplankton within aquatic biocenosis, as well as combination with species-specific analysis related to particular ecosystems.

Rotifera, Copepoda, Cladocera, lake trophy, guild ratio

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