Zooplankton Diversity and Variation Among Lakes

Abstract

Aim: This article will introduce key concepts surrounding the diversity of non-protistan zooplankton communities in fresh waters. After introducing the dominant organism groups that make up freshwater zooplankton communities, I will focus on patterns and drivers of spatial variation in community structure among lakes. Main concepts covered: I will begin by introducing the major taxonomic groups that comprise the larger-bodied zooplankton of fresh waters, and the diversity of life cycle, feeding mode, and reproductive traits that they demonstrate. I will then provide an overview of some of the main factors that influence the diversity of these communities, including the physical, chemical and biological features of specific, local freshwater habitats, and organism dispersal that links habitats across the landscape. I will also consider how the diversity of methods for studying zooplankton community structure has itself been increasing in recent years. Conclusion: The zooplankton communities of fresh waters show great taxonomic and functional diversity. The number of species present, their identities, and their relative abundances, depend upon a wide range of interacting physical, chemical and biological factors. Crucially, these factors operate over different spatial scales, so that the local zooplankton diversity of any specific lake is the product of not only the habitat characteristics of the lake itself, but is also influenced by dispersal from other nearby lakes, and regional climate.