Abstract
Although spatial ecology has achieved a great success in the passing decades, the importance of habitat orientation has not been well studied, especially for its effects on prey-predator dynamics. Here, we examined the responses of zooplankton activity and grazing rate to habitat orientation and their consequences on the stability of phytoplankton-zooplankton system in a two-factor factorial experiment involving habitat orientation (three levels; small, medium, and large base area, respectively) and habitat size (64 ml and 512 ml) using two algal-grazer systems (Chlorella pyrenoidosa-Daphnia magna and C. pyrenoidosa- Moina micrura). In both systems, grazer density increased with increasing base area for a given chamber volume and with increasing chamber volume for a given orientation in the first 6 days, followed by a dramatic decrease, which corresponded to increasing the amplitude of density fluctuations in both zooplankton and phytoplankton species. Such an algal-grazer dynamics could be accounted for by the greater average swimming ability and grazing rate observed in large-based and large-volumed chambers. Our results demonstrate that habitat orientation affects the zooplankton behavior and population dynamics of both zooplankton and phytoplankton species, which further influences the stability of phytoplankton-zooplankton systems.
Highlights
Algae Culture Collection of the Institute of Hydrobiology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences
Our results show that both habitat orientation and spatial scale can affect species interactions by changing species behavior, growth and reproduction, which further affect species population dynamics
The behavior and foraging efficiency of zooplankton grazers should be shaped by habitat orientation, thereby leading changes in population density of both zooplankton and phytoplankton
Summary
Algae Culture Collection of the Institute of Hydrobiology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences. This algal species is common in many ponds and lakes in China, and is preferred by many cladoceran species including Daphnia and Moina spp.[37, 38]. Algae were cultured aseptically in 250-mL Erlenmeyer flasks containing 100 mL of COMBO medium in an incubator with controlled temperature (20 °C), photoperiod regime (14 hL:[10] hD), and light levels (50 μmol photons m−2 s−1). C. pyrenoidosa was maintained in exponential growth phase by periodic dilution with fresh medi
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