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Diversity and distribution of Daphnia across space and time in Danube Delta lakes explained by food quality and abundance

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Abstract

Eutrophication of shallow lakes often triggers a series of cascading ecological effects. Among these are shifts in the zooplankton community structure due to phytoplankton changes, or shifts in the fish community reducing size-selective feeding of planktivorous fish. In such conditions, larger zooplankton (e.g. Daphnia) can have a selective advantage. Re-oligotrophication can reverse such food-web interactions. Europe’s largest wetland system (the Danube Delta) went through a period of eutrophication and is now slowly recovering again. However, changes in the Daphnia populations triggered by eutrophication in this system have remained unstudied. We used different sampling strategies to screen 24 lakes (which differ in their ecological state) for the presence of Daphnia as well as for biotic and abiotic parameters potentially explaining Daphnia abundance. Daphnia densities were surprisingly low. We found D. magna ephippia in the sediment, but no D. magna in the water column. Microsatellite analyses on pelagic Daphnia populations confirmed the presence of the D. longispina complex and provided evidence for significant hybridisation events. FluoroProbe data showed that Daphnia was mainly present in lakes with a higher phytoplankton production. Our study provides insights into the spatial and temporal distribution of Daphnia in a very dynamic wetland system.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Swiss Enlargement Contribution, Project IZERZ0 – 142165, “CyanoArchive”, in the framework of the Romanian-Swiss Research Program. We are thankful to Esther Keller who helped in the lab, Nadine Tardent who assisted with scoring the microsatellites and Darmina Niță for assisting with part of the statistics. We also thank Doru Simon Dobre, Aurel Damian, Vanea Dunaev, Laurentiu Butâlchin, Silviu Perijoc, Emilia Radu and Ciprian Birsan who helped with the fieldwork. We thank Georgia Lavinia Cosor for providing helpful information about surfaces and shore lengths of Danube Delta lakes areas and Christoph Tellenbach for helpful discussions. We also thank 3 anonymous reviewers for their helpful and constructive comments.

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Author notes

  1. Maria Iasmina Moza

    Present address: Genetic Wildlife Monitoring Laboratory – Zarnesti, Foundation Conservation Carpathia, Soseaua Cristianului 12A, 500053, Brasov, Romania

  2. Patrick Turko

    Present address: Department of Dermatology, University of Zürich Hospital, 8952, Zurich, Switzerland

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology, Taxonomy and Nature Conservation, Institute of Biology Bucharest, Romanian Academy, Bucharest, Romania

    Ioana Enache, Larisa Isabela Florescu, Mirela Moldoveanu, Maria Iasmina Moza, Laura Parpală & Cristina Sandu

  2. Faculty of Biology, Department of Systems Ecology and Sustainable Development, Doctoral School in Ecology, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania

    Ioana Enache, Maria Iasmina Moza & Geta Rîșnoveanu

  3. Swiss Institute for Environmental Science and Technology (Eawag), Dübendorf, Switzerland

    Ioana Enache, Maria Iasmina Moza, Patrick Turko & Piet Spaak

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  1. Ioana Enache
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Enache, I., Florescu, L.I., Moldoveanu, M. et al. Diversity and distribution of Daphnia across space and time in Danube Delta lakes explained by food quality and abundance. Hydrobiologia 842, 39–54 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-019-04025-y

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