Abstract
The present study was carried out in 22 floodplain reservoirs of the middle Daugava basin in southeastern Latvia. A total of 52 taxa of zooplankton were recorded. Rotifera were a dominant group represented by 31 taxa in the summer of 2004. The composition of zooplankton communities (Rotifera, small Cladocera and nauplii) and changes in their diversity in the examined reservoirs were similar to those of other floodplain lakes in both temperate and tropical regions. When hydrological connection with the river was frequent, a smaller number of species was found. Changes in zooplankton abundance were related to hydrology within the floodplain lakes and reservoirs whose flooding frequency and species composition indicated a permanent impact of the spring flood on zooplankton communities in the low water period in summer. Significant factors affecting zooplankton are local ecological conditions and habitat heterogeneity, especially within the floodplain reservoirs flooding rarely during the after-flood low water period in summer.
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