Vertical distributions of zooplankton and population dynamics of Daphnia in a meromictic lake

Vertical distributions of zooplankton were studied in relation to profiles of temperature, oxygen and chlorophyll a in Roi Lake, a small meromictic lake in central Alberta. Zooplankton were distributed fairly evenly through the oxygenated part of the water column in early summer, but a gradual descent of several species became evident in June. The vertical distribution of chlorophyll was dominated by a huge peak at the 8- to 9-m-deep chemocline. the location of a plate of photosynthetic sulfur bacteria. Ambient concentration of chlorophyll was a poor predictor of the numbers of zooplankton and the fecundity of Daphnia pulicaria at different depths, and per capita birth rates of Daphnia were usually highest in the surface waters. The reproductively disadvantageous restriction of daphnids to deep water by late summer and their catastrophic decline in the face of high ambient concentrations of chlorophyll suggest that factors other than temperature and food supply are important in influencing the dynamics and distribution of zooplankton in this lake.