Oecologia

, Volume 140, Issue 3, pp 381–387 | Cite as

Fitness optimization of Daphnia in a trade-off between food and temperature

Behavioural Ecology
First Online:
Received:
Accepted:

Abstract

In thermally stratified lakes with a deep chlorophyll maximum (DCM), Daphnia face a trade-off between food availability and optimum development temperatures. We hypothesize that Daphnia optimize their fitness by allocating the time spent in the different vertical habitats depending on the distribution of algal resources and the temperature gradient. We used the plankton towers (large indoor mesocosms) to study the vertical distribution of a population of Daphnia hyalina×galeata in three different temperature gradients with a DCM. Additionally, we determined the fitness of Daphnia in the epilimnion and hypolimnion by transferring water from these layers into flow-through systems where we raised Daphnia and assessed their juvenile growth rate as a measure of fitness. The fitness distribution was correlated with the vertical distribution. The vertical distribution most likely reflected the proportions of time Daphnia allocated to dwelling in the two vertical habitats.

Keywords

Deep-water chlorophyll maximum Habitat choice Migration Time allocation Vertical distribution 
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Notes

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank H. Hansen, H. Deiwick, and D. Albrecht for the maintenance of the plankton towers, Y. Harder and K. Wiedenhöft for cultivation of the algae, E. Geißler, M. Volquardsen, H. Wardenga and H.J. Krambeck for valuable assistance, and R.E. Moeller for linguistic improvements. Comments by M. Kopp and two anonymous reviewers improved an earlier version of this manuscript.

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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag 2004

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Max Planck Institute of LimnologyPlönGermany
  2. 2.Department of Earth and Environmental SciencesLehigh UniversityBethlehemUSA

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