Archives of Biological Sciences 2013 Volume 65, Issue 4, Pages: 1491-1504
https://doi.org/10.2298/ABS1304491M
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Effect of water chemistry on the planktonic communities and relationships among food web components across a freshwater ecotone
Mieczan T. (University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Department of Hydrobiology, Lublin, Poland)
Adamczuk Małgorzata (University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Department of Hydrobiology, Lublin, Poland)
Nawrot Dorota (University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Department of Hydrobiology, Lublin, Poland)
Most ecological research on the food web has been focused more on the pelagic
zone than on the transitional zone - ecotones between lentic and lotic
habitats. The specific goals of this study were to determine whether the
contact zone of waters differs in hydrochemical and biological terms from the
waters of the canal and the open water zone, and to evaluate the influence of
particular macro-habitats on the interactions between components of the
planktonic food web. The distribution of samples in ordination space led us
to conclude that the studied habitats are distributed along the rising
gradient of total organic carbon and nutrients. Assemblages of all
investigated groups showed a strong compositional gradient correlated with
conductivity and total phosphorus, while a second strong gradient in species
composition was explained by nitrate nitrogen and/or phosphate
concentrations. The analysis of trophic relationships in the system
bacteriaciliates- crustaceans reveals a clear differentiation and strength of
mutual relations between the analyzed zones. The highest number of
significant correlations was determined in the contact zone. It can also be a
place of very efficient matter and energy flow in freshwater ecosystems.
Keywords: Reservoir, ecotone, food web, bacteria, ciliates, crustacean