Competition in zooplankton communities: Suppression of small species by Daphnia pulex1

Abstract

The hypothesis that a large zooplankton herbivore, Daphnia pulex, can competitively reduce the abundance of resident zooplankton when colonizing a community of small species was tested in two lakes. When introduced to enclosures in eutrophic Larimore Pond, D. pulex decreased phytoplankton abundance by an order of magnitude, resulting in drastically reduced densities of Tropocyclops prasinus and Mesocyclops edax, the two dominant crustaceans in the pond. Daphnia pulex was also added to enclosures in oligo‐mesotrophic Dynamite Lake, along with nutrients, in a factorial design. Three Dynamite Lake zooplankters were reduced in density by D. pulex under both enriched and unenriched conditions: Bosmina longirostris, Trichocerca multicrinis, and copepod nauplii. Nutrient additions allowed these taxa to overcome some effects of competition with D. pulex. Daphnia pulex reduced the densities of copepods and rotifers common to both lakes more in eutrophic Larimore Pond than in unenriched Dynamite Lake enclosures.These results show that a large herbivore can reduce the density of some small zooplankton species and therefore contribute to the scarcity of small species in lakes dominated by large herbivores. Furthermore, the results suggest that the competitive effects of a large herbivore on rotifers and copepods may be more pronounced in eutrophic systems because the large species can attain a higher population density, and subsequently alter the resource base to a greater extent, in eutrophic systems.