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Competition between crustacean zooplankton in continuous cultures
Author(s) -
Schulze Peter C.,
Zagarese Horacio E.,
Williamson Craig E.
Publication year - 1995
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.1995.40.1.0033
Subject(s) - crustacean , biology , zooplankton , dominance (genetics) , daphnia , ecology , competition (biology) , range (aeronautics) , copepod , cladocera , population , biochemistry , materials science , demography , sociology , composite material , gene
It has been proposed that cases of diaptomid dominance in oligotrophic lakes are due to lower food requirements for Diaptomus species than Daphnia species. We test this hypothesis by competing Daphnia pulicaria and Diaptomus oregonensis populations in continuous and semicontinuous cultures. The threshold food concentrations for population growth of D. pulicaria and D. oregonensis were statistically indistinguishable. The thresholds of both species were within the range of concentrations characteristic of ultraoligotrophic lakes. The dominant species varied across experiments in a pattern consistent with an effect of temporal variation in food concentration. Neither our data nor previously published studies provide support for the hypothesis that cases of Diaptomus dominance in oligotrophic lakes are due to a simple difference in threshold food concentrations.