COMPARISON OF ZOOPLANKTON FUNCTIONAL RESPONSE TRAITS

IN DEEP LAKES ACROSS EUROPE

Orhideja Tasevska1, Maria Špoljar2, Spase Shumka3, Natalia Kuczyńska-Kippen4, Tvrtko Dražina2, Ivančica Ternjej2, Dafina Gušeska1, Elizabeta Veljanoska Sarafiloska1,
Valentina Slavevska-Stamenković5

Hydrobiological Institute, Naum Ohridski 50, 6000 Ohrid, Macedonia;

1

2
Division of Zoology, Department of Biology, Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Rooseveltov trg 6, HR-10000 Zagreb, Croatia;
3
Agricultural University of Tirana, Kodër Kamëz, SH1, 1000 Tiranë, Albania; Agricultural University of Tirana

4
Department of Water protection, Adam Mickiewicz University, Wieniawskiego 1, 61-712 Poznań, Poland;
5
Department of Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, University Ss. Cyril and Methodius, Arhimedova 3, 1000 Skopje, Macedonia

Freshwater zooplankton (Rotifera, Cladocera, Copepoda) has a central position in lake food webs and plays
key role in the matter cycling and energy transfer from phytoplankton to top predators. 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: eutrophic Góreckie Lake (Poland), mesotrophic lakes Visovac (Croatia)
and Skadar (Shkodra) (Albania) and oligotrophic Lake Ohrid (Macedonia) (Fig. 1)

Zooplankton samples were collected during Guild ratio (range: -1 to +1): (raptors-detritivores)/total
the summer period in epilimnion of all studied biomass.
lakes in triplicates by Van Dorn sampler (5 L), The statistical analyses were performed with the Primer
filtered through the plankton net (25 µm) and analyses package.
preserved in 4% formalin.
The zooplankton taxa were separated into Tab. 1. Physico-chemical parameters of studied lakes
Goreckie Visovac Skadar Ohrid
functional feeding guilds (FFG), as Zmax (m) 16,9 55 44 288,7
microphagous/detritivores – collect multiple Area (km2) 0,998 7,5 360-500 358,2
food particles, mainly bacterio-detritus Temperature (°C) 22 ± 0,42 20,7 ± 1,63 21,4 ± 0,35 22,1 ± 2,94
Dissolved oxygen (mg L -1) 8,3 ± 0,31 9,86 ± 0,72 8,7 ± 0,14 8,58 ± 1,14
suspension and raptorials – show an active pH 9,14 ± 0,07 8,05 ± 0,08 8,2 ± 0,14 8,49 ± 0,2
Fig. 1. Map of studied lakes in Europe
grasping and piercing to catch food, i.e. algae, TN (mg L-1) 0,13 ± 0,08 0,49 ± 0,06 0,16 ± 0,003 0,26 ± 0,09
TP (mg L -1) 0,087 ± 0,02 0,26 ± 0,12 0,013 ± 0,001 0,007 ± 0,003
protozoans or microfauna. Chla (µg L-1) 11,35 ± 7,99 1,43 ± 0,75 6,9 ± 0,43 0,31 ± 0,05

2,0

1,5
Distance

1,0

0,5

0
Goreckie

Skadar

Visovac

Ohrid

Fig. 2. Lakes grouping related to environmental factors

Fig. 5. Ratio between dray mass of feeding guilds (microphagous, MiF
and raptors, R) in the zooplankton of studied lakes

Fig. 3. Contribution of main zooplankton groups Rotifera, Cladocera and Copepoda Fig. 6. Estimated guild ratio (GR) based on the zooplankton assemblage
in studied lakes

Ohrid 2D Stress: 0 Region  at higher trophic level increased abundance, particularly of small-sized species, i.e. rotifers;
N
S
 species diversity increased with habitat heterogeneity;
Goreckie

Skadar  domination of species suggests negative relationship with higher trophic level, and dominance of
microphagous zooplankton was observed in more productive lakes.
 environmental similarity determinated zooplankton assemblage in comparison to geographical
similarity
Visovac
 plakton traits are important tool in the water quality assesment, particularly in protected areas,
and our results suggest further application of functional traits in the assessment of zooplankton
Fig. 4. NMDS segregation of lakes related to functional feeding guilds structure within aquatic biocenosis, as well as combination with species-specific analysis related
(ANOSIM r = 0.45, p < 0.05; N – North; S – South) to particular ecosystems.
13th Croatian Biological Congress
with international participation
Poreč, Croatia, September 19 - 23, 2018