Abstract
The abundance and biomass of ciliates, rotifers, cladocerans and copepods were studied in Lake Peipsi and Lake Võrtsjärv, both of which are shallow, turbid and large. Our hypothesis was that in a large shallow eutrophic lake, the ciliates could be the most important zooplankton group. The mean metazooplankton biomass was higher in Peipsi than in Võrtsjärv (mean values and SD, 1.8 ± 0.7 and 1.3 ± 0.6 mg WM l−1). In Peipsi, the metazooplankton biomass was dominated by filtrators that feed on large-sized phytoplankton and are characteristic of oligo-mesotrophic waters. In Võrtsjärv, the metazooplankton was dominated by species characteristic of eutrophic waters. The planktonic ciliates in both lakes were dominated by oligotrichs. The biomass of ciliates was much greater in Võrtsjärv (mean 2.3 ± 1.4 mg WM l−1) than in Peipsi (0.1 ± 0.08 mg WM l−1). Ciliates formed about 60% of the total zooplankton biomass in Võrtsjärv but only 6% in Peipsi. Thus, the food chains in the two lakes differ: a grazing food chain in Peipsi and a detrital food-chain in Võrtsjärv. Consequently, top-down control of phytoplankton can be assumed to be much more important in Peipsi than in Võrtsjärv. When the detrital food chain prevails, the planktonic ciliates become the most important zooplankton group in shallow, eutrophic and large lake. Neglecting protozooplankton can result in serious underestimates of total zooplankton biomass since two-thirds of the zooplankton biomass in Võrtsjärv comprises ciliates.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the staff of the Võrtsjärv Centre for Limnology for valuable help in our study. Funding for this research was provided by Estonian target funding projects 0370208s98 and 0362483s03, by Estonian Science Foundation grants No. 2015, 2017, 4080, 5425 and by European Commission projects (contract EVK1-CT-1999-39 and contract EVK1-CT-2000-00076).
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Guest editors: T. Nõges, R. Eckmann, K. Kangur, P. Nõges, A. Reinart, G. Roll, H. Simola and M. Viljanen
European Large Lakes—Ecosystem changes and their ecological and socioeconomic impacts
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Zingel, P., Haberman, J. A comparison of zooplankton densities and biomass in Lakes Peipsi and Võrtsjärv (Estonia): rotifers and crustaceans versus ciliates. Hydrobiologia 599, 153–159 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-007-9186-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-007-9186-y