Research Article

Influence of environmental factors on vertical distribution of zooplankton communities in humic lakes

¹ University of Bialystok, Institute of Biology, Department of Hydrobiology, Ciołkowskiego 1J, 15-245 Białystok, Poland
² Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Hydrobiological Station, Leśna 13, 11-730 Mikołajki, Poland

^* Corresponding author: m.karpowicz@uwb.edu.pl

Received: 6 November 2017
Accepted: 25 January 2018

Abstract

The influence of vertical environmental gradients on zooplankton communities was studied in five humic lakes with the high availability of food resources (phytoplankton and bacterioplankton) and low fish pressure. The factors that inhibit the development of large zooplankton in humic lakes are currently widely debated. We have found that relatively productive humic lakes do not offer many niches for zooplankton because of the sharp thermal gradient which results in a shallow layer of oxygenated waters. The results of this study indicated that different taxonomic groups of zooplankton are determined by a different set of environmental variables. This phenomenon explains very low species richness of zooplankton and a possibility of their coexistence in the narrow oxygenated layer. We concluded that due to sharp thermal gradient in humic lakes biomass of herbivores may be reduced which could promote development of phytoplankton.