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Seasonal and short term fluctuations in zooplankton abundance in tropical Lake Malawi 1
Author(s) -
Twombly Saran
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
limnology and oceanography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.7
H-Index - 197
eISSN - 1939-5590
pISSN - 0024-3590
DOI - 10.4319/lo.1983.28.6.1214
Subject(s) - zooplankton , abundance (ecology) , seasonality , population , ecology , environmental science , geography , biology , oceanography , geology , demography , sociology
A growing body of data documents seasonal variations in the abundance of tropical zooplankton populations, in contrast to persistent impressions that these populations are stable in size and in age structure. Four of the six most common crustacean zooplankton species in southern Lake Malawi exhibited seasonal changes in population size over a period of 2.5 years. Seasonal trends were repeated between years, but both seasonal and annual patterns in zooplankton abundance were confounded by short term fluctuations in population size. These short term fluctuations represented demographic changes and could not be dismissed as sampling error. As a result, patterns of zooplankton abundance varied considerably between years, and no one year’s data accurately described the dynamics of zooplankton in this tropical lake.