Long-term dynamics of small-bodied and large-bodied cladocerans during the eutrophication of a shallow reservoir,with special attention for Chydorus sphaericus

Eutrophication in Tjeukemeer involved a gradualincrease in chlorophyll concentrations from ca. 30 mg m^-3in 1968–69 to 125 mg m^-3 in 1976.From 1976 onwards, chlorophyll concentrations remainedat a high level fluctuating between100–225 mg m^-3. Hillbricht-Illkowska (1977)hypothesized that small-bodied species will becomeincreasingly abundant and dominant over large-bodiedspecies with increasing eutrophication. We tested thishypothesis using observations from life historyexperiments on Chydorus sphaericus, combinedwith data from 25 years of field observations on thepopulation dynamics of cladocerans in Tjeukemeer.In life history experiments with C. sphaericus,the fitness measure r in treatments with naturallake seston and laboratory cultured green algae wassignificantly higher on lake seston from Tjeukemeer,containing a high proportion of detritus. Thissuggests that detrital particles are good quality foodfor C. sphaericus. Field observations during theperiod 1968–1976 showed that all three categories ofcladocerans: C. sphaericus,'other' small-bodiedcladocerans (predominantly Bosmina spp.) andlarge-bodied cladocerans (predominantly Daphniagaleata), increased in biomass with increasingchlorophyll concentration. However, of these threecladoceran categories only sphaericus showeda distinct and significant increase whereas the othertwo only showed a marginally significant increase.During the period 1977–1992, both 'other' small-bodiedcladocerans and C. sphaericus significantlydecreased in biomass with increasing chlorophyllconcentration, whereas the biomass of the large-bodiedcladocerans significantly increased with increasingchlorophyll content. These observations are not inagreement with the hypothesis that small-bodiedzooplankton become increasingly abundant withincreasing eutrophication. We suggest that theobserved trends are partially caused by a food effect,and partially caused by predation pressure. Daphnia shows a better response to the increase indetritus and filaments of Cyanobacteria thansmall-bodied cladocerans, but is more vulnerable tofish predation. Densities of 0+ zooplanktivorous fishshow strong annual fluctuations in Tjeukemeer, andbecause of hydrological conditions, 0+ fish abundancein this lake is probably negatively related tochlorophyll content.