The effects of diel vertical migration of Daphnia on zooplankton-phytoplankton interactions

Zooplankton populations which perform diel vertical migration (DVM) only spend the night in surface water layers but migrate downwards into the lower water layers during the day. The intention of this study was to investigate effects of DVM of Daphnia on phytoplankton dynamics and Daphnia life history parameters in a lake. I conducted field and laboratory experiments in which I compared ‘migration’ with ‘no-migration’ situations. It is generally assumed that phytoplankton communities in the epilimnion of stratified lakes profit from the presence of DVM. This might be caused by less grazing due to intermittent grazing and/or less grazing due to lower population densities of migrating Daphnia populations (as they migrate into the colder, lower hypolimnion during the day which leads to a lower temperature-dependent population growth). In a first laboratory experiment I showed that an enhanced phytoplankton biomass could develop under a migration regime solely due to intermittent grazing. I further showed that edible phytoplankton species with higher intrinsic growth rates benefited more from intermittent grazing than edible species with lower intrinsic growth rates. Field experiments also indicated that phytoplankton biomass in the epilimnion was higher when subject to a migrating zooplankton population and that additionally different phytoplankton community compositions arose from different migration regimes (‘migration’/’no-migration’). For example edible algae were at an advantage when zooplankton migrated, whereas large, inedible algae species had an advantage when zooplankton populations did not migrate. In an additional laboratory experiment I also showed that these changes in phytoplankton composition had strong feedback effects on life history parameters of daphnids and that food conditions experienced by migrating daphnids were advantageous. In a further laboratory experiment I exposed two Daphnia species to either constant or regularly changing temperature regimes to study whether a fluctuating temperature regime – as experienced by migrating daphnids – implies costs for daphnids. Somatic growth rates of juvenile Daphnia in the regularly changing temperature regime were almost as low as under constant low temperature conditions indicating that a regular change in temperature involves high costs. The results of my study indicate that DVM has a strong modulating effect on zooplankton-phytoplankton interactions in a lake.

Level thesis:degree_level

thesis.doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher

Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität

Year

2004

Author dc:creator

• Reichwaldt, Elke S.

Repository record source_url

https://edoc.ub.uni-muenchen.de/2207/

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:edoc.ub.uni-muenchen.de:2207