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Role of food partitioning in structuring the zooplankton community in mountain lakes

  • Community Ecology
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Abstract

Trophic-niche differentiation is often cited as a main factor in structuring zooplankton assemblages, although field evidence for this is rarely presented. The study was based on a survey of 29 Pyrenean lakes with altitudes ranging between 1,875 and 2,990 m carried out during July and August 2000. Because of the oligotrophic nature of these lakes, we aimed to confirm that food partitioning is a major factor in shaping zooplankton assemblages. We analysed the amino acid composition of six cladocera and seven copepod species. A discriminant analysis showed that each species could be distinguished according to its amino acid composition. A negative relationship between amino acid differentiation and co-occurrence among the cladocera and cyclopoid copepod was observed. In contrast, calanoids did not show any relationship and were characterised by a high amino acid differentiation between species. As the differences in the amino acid composition among zooplankton species indicate distinct food sources, the relationship found indicates that trophic-niche differentiation plays a key role in determining the assemblage of these zooplankton communities. Therefore exploitative competition, either at present or in the past by driving co-evolutionary histories, has been a significant factor in structuring the cladocera and cyclopoid communities in these oligotrophic lakes.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all those who helped in fieldwork, particularly to D. Alonso for late night extra fieldworks and T. Buchaca for chlorophyll analyses. This research was supported by the European Commission (contract EVK1-CT-1999–00032, EMERGE project).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Vigo, Lagoas-Marcosende, 36200, Vigo, Spain

    C. Guisande

  2. Departament d'Ecologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Avda. Diagonal 645, 08028, Barcelona, Spain

    F. Bartumeus & M. Ventura

  3. Centre d'Estudis Avançats de Blanes (CEAB), Accés Cala St Francesc 14, 17300 Blanes, Girona, Spain

    J. Catalan

Authors
  1. C. Guisande
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  2. F. Bartumeus
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  3. M. Ventura
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  4. J. Catalan
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Correspondence to C. Guisande.

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Guisande, C., Bartumeus, F., Ventura, M. et al. Role of food partitioning in structuring the zooplankton community in mountain lakes. Oecologia 136, 627–634 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-003-1306-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-003-1306-4

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