Abstract
A four-year study showed a clear seasonal succession of species within the cladoceran community of the large, oligotrophic Sainte-Croix reservoir (S.E. France). Diaphanosoma brachyurum and Ceriodaphnia pulchella were strictly limited to the warm stratified period (July to October), whereas Bosmina longirostris and Bosmina coregoni were dominant during spring and autumn. Daphnia longispina was the only species to occur throughout the year with higher densities in spring.
In spring and late autumn, the discharge of the inflowing river Verdon was high and the abundance of all species showed a gradient over the whole lake with lower densities close to the inflow. During the stratified period, water inflow was very low and species showed different patterns. Densities of the small form Ceriodaphnia pulchella were similar all along the long axis of the lake, whereas Daphnia densities were significantly higher near the dam. The distribution pattern of Diaphanosoma, an intermediate-sized species, showed similar trends to that of Daphnia. The only planktivorous fish in the pelagic zone, the bleak (Alburnus alburnus), fed mostly on large-bodied species (> 1.0 mm) and was more abundant close to the inflow current. A comparison between the length frequency distributions of cladocera upstream and downstream provided a clear demonstration of the effects of size-selective predation on prey populations. Finally, the interactions between spatial heterogeneity and long-term development of the zooplankton community and the indirect effects of predation are discussed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Armengol, J., 1984. Ciclo anual y heterogeneidad espacial en el zooplancton de una cadena de embalses del rio Guadiana. Oecologia aquatica 7: 43–72.
Balvay, G., 1985. Réseau trophique dans les retenues. In D. Gerdeaux & R. Billard (eds), Gestion piscicole des lacs et retenues artificielles. INRA, Paris: 29–66.
Bressac, Y. & A. Champeau, 1985. Contribution à l'étude du réseau trophique des lacs de barrage: le zooplancton des retenues de Serre-Ponçon et Sainte-Croix. In: Gerdeaux, D. & Billard, R. (eds), Gestion piscicole des lacs et retenues artificielles. INRA, Paris: 67–77.
Brooks, J. L. & S. I. Dodson, 1965. Predation, body size and composition of plankton. Science 150: 28–35.
Butorina, L. G., 1986. On the problem of aggregations of planktonic crustaceans Polyphemus peliculus (L.), Cladocera. Arch. Hydrobiol. 105: 355–386.
Chappaz, R., 1986. Etude piscicole de la retenue de Sainte-Croix-Fontaine l'Evêque. Thèse de 3ème cycle. Université de Provence Aix-Marseille I, 183 pp.
Chappaz, R., G. Brun & G. Olivari, 1987. Mise en évidence de différences de régime alimentaire dans une population d'ablettes Alburnus alburnus (L.) dans la lac de Sainte-Croix. Conséquences sur la croissance et la fécondité. Ann. Limnol. 23: 245–252.
Cochran, W. G., 1977. Sampling techniques. Wiley, N.Y., 428 pp.
Dagg, M., 1977. Some effects of patchy food environments on copepods. Limnol. Oceanogr. 22: 99–107.
De Nie, H. W., H. J. Bromley & J. Vijverberg, 1980. Distribution patterns of zooplankton in Tjeukemeer, The Netherlands. J. Plankton Res. 2: 317–334.
Drenner R. W. & S. R. McComas, 1980. The roles of zooplankton escape ability and fish size selectivity in the selective feeding and impact of planktivorous fish. In W. C. Kerfoot (ed.), Evolution and ecology of zooplankton communities. The University Press of New England, Hanover (N.H.), Lond.: 587–593.
El Hafa, M., 1987. Bilan des apports de sels nutritifs au lac de Sainte Croix (Provence) et leur utilisation par les phytoplancton dans la retenue. Thèse de 3ème cycle Université de Provence Aix-Marseille I, 131 pp.
Frontier, S., 1983. Stratégies d'échantillonnage en écologie. Collection d'Ecologie, Masson, Paris, 494 pp.
Gannon J. E. & R. S. Stemberger, 1981. Impact of influent river on the distribution of zooplankton in lake Skadar. In S. Karaman & A. M. Beeton (ed.), The biota and limnology of lake Skadar. Titograd: 202–218.
Georges, D. G. & R. W. Edwards, 1976. The effect of wind on the distribution of chlorophyll a and crustacean zooplankton in a shallow eutrophic reservoir. J. appl. Ecol. 13: 667–690.
Grégoire, A., 1981. Contribution à l'étude hydrobiologique d'une rivière aménagée: le Verdon (Alpes de Haute Provence). Les lacs de barrage et les tronçons de cours d'eau à débit régulé. Cah. Lab. Hydrobiol. Montereau 13: 1–172.
Jakobsen, P. J. & G. H. Jonhsen G. H., 1987. The influence of predation on horizontal distribution of zooplankton species. Freshwat. Biol. 17: 501–507.
Lenz, P. H., S. D. Cooper, J. M. Melack & D. W. Winkler, 1986. Spatial and temporal patterns of three levels in a saline lake. J. Plankton Res. 8: 1054–1064.
Malone, B. J. & D. J. MacQueen, 1983. Horizontal patchiness in zooplankton populations in two Ontario kettle lakes. Hydrobiologia 99: 101–124.
Murdoch, W. W. & J. Bence, 1987. General predators and unstable prey populations. In W. C. Kerfoot & A. Sih (eds), Predation. Direct and indirect impacts on aquatic communities. The University Press of New England, Hanover (N.H.), Lond.: 17–30.
Nilsson, N. A. & B. Pejler, 1973. On the relation between fish fauna and zooplankton composition in North Swedish lakes. Inst. Freshwater Res. Drottningholm Rep. 53: 51–77.
Patalas, K., 1969. Composition and horizontal distribution of crustacean plankton in Lake Ontario. J. Fish. Res. Bd Can. 26: 2135–2164.
Patalas, K., 1981. Spatial structure of the crustacean planktonic community in the lake Winnipeg, Canada. Verh. int. Ver. Limnol. 21: 305–311.
Pinel-Alloul, B., J. A. Downing, M. Perusse & G. Codin-Blumer, 1988. Spatial heterogeneity in freshwater zooplankton: systematic variation with body-size, depth and sampling scale. Ecology 69: 1393–1400.
Pont, D., 1986. Structure spatiale d'une population du cyclopide Acanthocyclops robustus dans une rizière de Camargue (France). Acta Oecol., Oecol. gen. 7: 289–302.
Pont, D., R. Chappaz, G. Brun & A. Champeau, 1989. Interactions zooplancton-poissons dans une retenue oligotrophe de mise en eau récente (Ste-Croix, Provence, France). Rev. Sci. Eau 2: 777–792.
Siebeck, H. O., 1980. Optical orientation of pelagic crustaceans and its consequences in the pelagic and littoral zones. In W. C. Kerfoot (ed.), Evolution and ecology of zooplankton communities. The University Press of New England, Hanover (N.H.), Lond.: 28–38.
Steele, J. H., 1974. Spatial heterogeneity and population stability. Nature 248: 83–85.
Steele, J. H., 1978. Some comments on plankton patches. In J. H. Steele (ed.), Spatial pattern in plankton communities, Plenum Press, N.Y.: 1–20.
Summer, U., Z. M. Gliwicz, W. Lampert & A. Duncan, 1986. The PEG-model of seasonal succession of planktonic events in freshwaters. Arch. Hydrobiol. 106: 433–471.
Wiebe, P. H., 1970. Small-scale spatial distribution in oceanic zooplankton. Limnol. Oceanogr., 15: 205–217.
Wiens, J. A., 1976. Populations responses to patchy environments. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 7: 81–120.
Zaret, T. M. & J. S. Suffern, 1976. Vertical migration in zooplankton as a predator avoidance mechanism. Limnol. Oceanogr. 21: 804–813.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Pont, D., Amrani, J. The effects of selective fish predation on the horizontal distribution of pelagic Cladocera in a southern French reservoir. Hydrobiologia 207, 259–267 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00041464
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00041464