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Food web including infectious agents for a California freshwater pond
Author(s) -
Preston Daniel L.,
Orlofske Sarah A.,
McLaughlin John P.,
Johnson Pieter T. J.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.144
H-Index - 294
eISSN - 1939-9170
pISSN - 0012-9658
DOI - 10.1890/11-2194.1
Subject(s) - food web , trophic level , ecology , littoral zone , aquatic ecosystem , biology , limnetic zone
This data set presents a comprehensive food web for Quick Pond, a northern California pond ecosystem. The web includes organisms from all regions of the pond (i.e., littoral, limnetic, profundal, and benthic zones) as well as terrestrial organisms that interact with the aquatic community or have aquatic life-stages. The food web has three attributes that are often omitted from freshwater food webs: inclusion of (1) parasites and other infectious agents, (2) ontogenetic stages of most animals with complex life cycles, and (3) biomass information for many animals. Data on species presence was obtained over three years using field sampling techniques (i.e., seine- and D-nets, stove-pipe samplers, and visual encounter surveys) and laboratory examinations of free-living organisms for infectious agents (primarily metazoan parasites, but also some microbes). We collected body size and biomass data for abundant aquatic animals >1 mm and for trematode parasites, which were the most abundant parasitic group. Inform...