Estimating In Situ Zooplankton Non-Predation Mortality in an Oligo-Mesotrophic Lake from Sediment Trap Data: Caveats and Reality Check

Описание

Тип публикации: статья из журнала

Год издания: 2015

Идентификатор DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0131431

Ключевые слова: Article, Bosmina longirostris, carcass, Cladocera, decomposition, general device, in vitro study, intermethod comparison, lake, microbial activity, mortality, non predation mortality, nonhuman, population abundance, quantitative analysis, sediment trap, sinking velocity, velocity, zooplankton

Аннотация: Background Mortality is a main driver in zooplankton population biology but it is poorly constrained in models that describe zooplankton population dynamics, food web interactions and nutrient dynamics. Mortality due to non-predation factors is often ignored even though anecdotal evidence of non-predation mass mortality of zooplankПоказать полностьюton has been reported repeatedly. One way to estimate non-predation mortality rate is to measure the removal rate of carcasses, for which sinking is the primary removal mechanism especially in quiescent shallow water bodies. Objectives and Results We used sediment traps to quantify in situ carcass sinking velocity and non-predation mortality rate on eight consecutive days in 2013 for the cladoceran Bosmina longirostris in the oligo-mesotrophic Lake Stechlin; the outcomes were compared against estimates derived from in vitro carcass sinking velocity measurements and an empirical model correcting in vitro sinking velocity for turbulence resuspension and microbial decomposition of carcasses. Our results show that the latter two approaches produced unrealistically high mortality rates of 0.58-1.04 d(-1), whereas the sediment trap approach, when used properly, yielded a mortality rate estimate of 0.015 d(-1), which is more consistent with concurrent population abundance data and comparable to physiological death rate from the literature. Ecological implications Zooplankton carcasses may be exposed to water column microbes for days before entering the benthos; therefore, non-predation mortality affects not only zooplankton population dynamics but also microbial and benthic food webs. This would be particularly important for carbon and nitrogen cycles in systems where recurring mid-summer decline of zooplankton population due to non-predation mortality is observed.

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Издание

Журнал: PLOS ONE

Выпуск журнала: Vol. 10, Is. 7

ISSN журнала: 19326203

Место издания: SAN FRANCISCO

Издатель: PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE

Персоны

  • Dubovskaya O.P. (Siberian Federal University)
  • Gladyshev M.I. (Siberian Federal University)
  • Tolomeev A.P. (Institute of Biophysics, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences)
  • Tang K.W. (Department of Biosciences, Centre for Sustainable Aquatic Research (CSAR), Swansea University)
  • Kirillin G. (Department of Ecohydrology, Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, MU)
  • Buseva Z. (Scientific and Practical Center, National Academy of Sciences of Belarus for Bioresources)
  • Kasprzak P. (Department of Experimental Limnology, Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries)
  • Grossart H.P. (Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, Potsdam University)