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Unraveling the role of top predators and macrophytes in mediterranean ponds: the ecological significance of rotifers

  • ROTIFERA XVI
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Abstract

The Mediterranean area includes a wide variety of shallow water bodies which are recognized as hotspots of biodiversity. Here, we present the results of our study conducted on twenty-two small ponds, divided in two groups, fish free and fish stocked, along the coast and islands of the Adriatic Sea, in the Mediterranean. The main aims covered (1) the assessment of zooplankton structural and functional traits; (2) the impact of top predators (invasive mosquitofish) and macrophyte coverage on zooplankton diversity, abundance, and biomass. Overall, rotifers dominated in zooplankton diversity and abundance; it is likely that due to their small size they were not under direct fish predation. Rotifers prevailed in fish-stocked ponds, where their assemblage was shaped by food availability and macrophyte coverage. Macrophytes had a dual influence on rotifers: dense macrophyte coverage supported a high density of littoral species, while low macrophyte coverage provided a profitable condition for planktonic rotifers. In fish-stocked ponds, cladoceran and copepod density, biomass, and diversity were strongly reduced in relation to fish-free ponds. This study revealed high zooplankton diversity (77 taxa) in a Mediterranean region, structured by habitat heterogeneity and predation.

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Dražina, T., Purgar, M., Kuczyńska-Kippen, N., Μichaloudi, E., Stamou, G., Bilić, Ž., Kahriman, K., and Špoljar, M. (2023). Datasets and code for Dražina et al. 2023: Unraveling the Role of Top Predators and Macrophytes in Mediterranean Ponds: The Ecological Significance of Rotifers [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10439335.

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Acknowledgements

We are very grateful to Ana Štih and other member of Association Hyla (Croatia) for collecting some of the samples, as part of the project Mediterranean Island Wetlands Project (MedIsWet). Furthermore, we are very grateful to Antun Alegro (Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Croatia) and Tomislav Hudina (Association BIOM, Croatia), for the identification of macrophytes from sampled ponds. And above all, we want to thank the anonymous reviewers for their hard work and valuable advice that helped improve this article.

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Author notes

  1. Tvrtko Dražina and Maria Špoljar have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Horvatovac 102a, 10000, Zagreb, Croatia

    Tvrtko Dražina, Kristina Kahriman, Žanet Bilić & Maria Špoljar

  2. Ruđer Bošković Institute, Bijenička Cesta 54, 10000, Zagreb, Croatia

    Marija Purgar

  3. Department of Water Protection, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Uniwersytetu Poznańskiego 6, 61-614, Poznan, Poland

    Natalia Kuczyńska-Kippen

  4. Department of Zoology, School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124, Thessaloníki, Greece

    Εvangelia Μichaloudi & Georgia Stamou

Authors
  1. Tvrtko Dražina
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  2. Marija Purgar
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  3. Natalia Kuczyńska-Kippen
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  4. Εvangelia Μichaloudi
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  5. Georgia Stamou
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  6. Kristina Kahriman
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  7. Žanet Bilić
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  8. Maria Špoljar
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tvrtko Dražina.

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Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest/competing interests. The sponsors had no role in the design, execution, interpretation, or writing of the study.

Ethical approval

No collecting permits were required for this study. None of the specimens that we collected are endangered or threatened. Sampling and processing protocols followed appropriate guidelines established by the local municipalities.

Additional information

Handling editor: Sidinei M. Thomaz

Guest editors: Maria Špoljar, Diego Fontaneto, Elizabeth J. Walsh and Natalia Kuczyńska-Kippen / Diverse Rotifers in Diverse Ecosystems

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Supplementary Information

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

10750_2024_5484_MOESM1_ESM.xlsx

Supplementary file1 (XLSX 13 KB) Table 1 Coordinates, morphometry, and some biotic features of the studied east Adriatic ponds (Croatia, Europe). FP fish-stocked ponds, FFP fish-free ponds, em emergent macrophytes, flo floating macrophytes, sub submerged macrophytes

10750_2024_5484_MOESM2_ESM.xlsx

Supplementary file2 (XLSX 16 KB) Table 2 List of zooplankton taxa from the investigated ponds (Croatia, Europe), with overall frequency of occurrence (F). I Istrian Peninsula, R Rab Island, DO Dugi otok Island, K Korčula Island

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Dražina, T., Purgar, M., Kuczyńska-Kippen, N. et al. Unraveling the role of top predators and macrophytes in mediterranean ponds: the ecological significance of rotifers. Hydrobiologia 851, 3149–3163 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-024-05484-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-024-05484-8

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