<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Shallow lakes are strongly affected by global climate changes reflected in significant parameters of ecosystem deterioration, i.e. biodiversity decrease, and water turbidity. Zooplankton research in Škrčev kut oxbow lake (Krapina River watershed, NW Croatia, Europe) was conducted during the summer of 2012 and 2013 with the aim to determine the effect of inter-annual, short-timescale changes of hydrological regime on environmental conditions, macrophytes, zooplankton and fish assemblage within an oxbow lake in the temperate region. Within one-year period the water level increased by 2 meters. This caused a significant reduction of floating-leaved macrophytes (i.e. <italic>Nuphar lutea</italic>), while turbidity, ortho-phosphate and chlorophyll <italic>a</italic> concentrations increased. These altered ecological conditions were reflected in the shift from floating-leaved macrophytes at the lower water level to phytoplankton-dominated lake at the higher water level. Zooplankton underwent significant alteration in assemblage. The results suggest that fish preference suppressed cladocerans and enhanced the rotifer and copepod abundance. Our results indicate that even in a short-timescale zooplankton assemblage mediates in the modification of ecosystem functioning.</p></abstract>

Shallow lakes are strongly affected by global climate changes reflected in significant parameters of ecosystem deterioration, i.e. biodiversity decrease, and water turbidity. Zooplankton research in Škrčev kut oxbow lake (Krapina River watershed, NW Croatia, Europe) was conducted during the summer of 2012 and 2013 with the aim to determine the effect of inter-annual, short-timescale changes of hydrological regime on environmental conditions, macrophytes, zooplankton and fish assemblage within an oxbow lake in the temperate region. Within one-year period the water level increased by 2 meters. This caused a significant reduction of floating-leaved macrophytes (i.e. Nuphar lutea), while turbidity, ortho-phosphate and chlorophyll a concentrations increased. These altered ecological conditions were reflected in the shift from floating-leaved macrophytes at the lower water level to phytoplankton-dominated lake at the higher water level. Zooplankton underwent significant alteration in assemblage. The results suggest that fish preference suppressed cladocerans and enhanced the rotifer and copepod abundance. Our results indicate that even in a short-timescale zooplankton assemblage mediates in the modification of ecosystem functioning.

Impact of water level fluctuation in the shaping of zooplankton assemblage in a shallow lake.

Department of Biology, Division of Zoology, Faculty of Science

Department of General and Inorganic Chemistry, Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology

Department of Fisheries, Beekeeping, Game Management and Special Zoology, Faculty of Agriculture

Croatian Journal of Fisheries

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Shallow lakes are strongly affected by global climate changes reflected in significant parameters of ecosystem deterioration, i.e. biodiversity decrease, and...

Impact of water level fluctuation in the shaping of zooplankton assemblage in a shallow lake.

Publié en ligne: 11 avr. 2018

Pages: 27 - 34

Reçu: 15 sept. 2017

Accepté: 17 nov. 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/cjf-2018-0003

Mots clés
Rotifera, Cladocera, Copepoda, Fish, Floating-leaved macrophytes, Oxbow lake

© 2018 Maria Špoljar et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Impact of water level fluctuation in the shaping of zooplankton assemblage in a shallow lake.

Publié en ligne: 11 avr. 2018

Pages: 27 - 34

Reçu: 15 sept. 2017

Accepté: 17 nov. 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/cjf-2018-0003

Mots clésRotifera, Cladocera, Copepoda, Fish, Floating-leaved macrophytes, Oxbow lake

© 2018 Maria Špoljar et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Mots clés
Rotifera, Cladocera, Copepoda, Fish, Floating-leaved macrophytes, Oxbow lake