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Zooplankton feeding on algae and bacteria under ice in Lake Druzhby, East Antarctica

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Abstract

The feeding of the cladoceran Daphniopsis studeri on algae and bacteria was investigated under ice in an ultra-oligotrophic Antarctic lake from late autumn (May) to early spring (October) in 2004. D. studeri fed on both algae and bacteria with estimated filtering rates of 0.048 and 0.061 l ind−1 day−1), respectively. Algae seemed to be the major food resource for the D. studeri population, however at times of low algal densities the bacterioplankton represented an important alternative food resource. The D. studeri grazing impact on the algal and bacterial standing stock was in general low (0.6–4.6% removed per day), but during the winter period this organism can remove up to 34% of the bacterial production (BP). At times D. studeri grazing can temporarily have a significant impact on the BP rates, though their impact was relatively low when compared to viral-induced bacterial mortality in the lake.

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Acknowledgments

This work was funded by a Marie Curie Scholarship, the Australian Antarctic Division and Vetenskapsrådet (VR) the Swedish Research Council. We would like to thank the winter crew at Davis station, Antarctica 2004 for logistical support and field assistance. We also thank Ann-Kristin Bergström for help with the identification of the algal culture.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Climate Impacts Research Centre (CIRC), Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Umeå University, 62, 981 07, Abisko, Sweden

    Christin Säwström & Jan Karlsson

  2. The Institute for Antarctic and Southern Ocean Studies, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS, 7001, Australia

    Johanna Laybourn-Parry

  3. Department of Limnology, Lund University, Ecology Building, Lund, 223 62, Sweden

    Wilhelm Granéli

  4. Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD, 4111, Australia

    Christin Säwström

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  1. Christin Säwström
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  2. Jan Karlsson
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  3. Johanna Laybourn-Parry
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  4. Wilhelm Granéli
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Correspondence to Christin Säwström.

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Säwström, C., Karlsson, J., Laybourn-Parry, J. et al. Zooplankton feeding on algae and bacteria under ice in Lake Druzhby, East Antarctica. Polar Biol 32, 1195–1202 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-009-0619-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-009-0619-0

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