Limiting effect of abioseston on food ingestion, postembryonic development time and fecundity of daphnids in Lake Balaton (Hungary)

During ice-free periods, seston ranges from 10 to 600 and averages29.2 mg dry wt 1^–1 in Lake Balaton, the largest shallowlake in Central Europe. Most (80–99%) of the seston consistsof 1–10 µm sized mineral particles. The abiosestoncauses permanent food limitation in the ingestion of the ediblephytoplankton (1–22 µm fraction) by Daphnia cucullataand D.galeata. The postembryonic development time of D.galeataincreases and its fecundity decreases with increasing abioseston.The fecundity and the mortality of D.galeata are balanced atan abioseston concentration of 20.0 mg dry wt 1^–1.