Abstract
Crustacean community structure and dynamics are very well studied in lakes, rivers and oceanic systems but wetlands, where moisture conditions fluctuate, have not received equal attention in research. For example, cladoceran communities in peatland systems in the subarctic region have not been fully investigated. We used paleolimnological and paleoecological methods to study plant and cladoceran assemblages and the community dynamics in two subarctic peatlands, which differ in their hydrological characteristics. At the first site, Iitto, river floods introduce planktonic species to fen pools and the steep topography of the catchment induces rapid but relatively short flooding periods. Fluctuating environmental conditions result in a high amount of cladoceran resting stages in the samples. At the other site, Kaamanen, the cladoceran assemblage goes through clear directional changes, which could be attributed to changes in fen hydrology and ultimately to climatic changes during the past two millennia.
Highlights
Subarctic fens are challenging habitats for aquatic biota due to fluctuating water levels and a long season of ice and snow cover
The relationship between plant and cladoceran communities is visible in the hydrological preferences of plant species as the samples with high cladoceran diversity occur systematically together with high abundance of Scorpidium scorpioides, which is reported to inhabit the wettest microhabitats in Kaamanen (e.g. Heikkinen et al 2002)
Our results clearly indicate that cladoceran communities in subarctic peatlandsare relatively diverse
Summary
Subarctic fens are challenging habitats for aquatic biota due to fluctuating water levels and a long season of ice and snow cover. In Northern Finland, many peatlands are flooded in spring due to snowmelt, which is followed by gradual shrinking of the open water area in late summer and autumn. Lakes in the northern Finnish Lapland are covered by ice from late October to early June. A group of crustacean zooplankton, are known to bypass drought or winter by diapause and are able to develop large populations in short period of time. The group is of pivotal importance in most types of aquatic systems as they establish a link from primary producers to higher trophic levels. Crustacean zooplankton are an important component in microbial loops, linking the group to aquatic carbon dynamics
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