Jolanta Ejsmont-Karabin

Ecological status of shallow Lake Gorbacz (NE Poland) in its final stage before drying up

The article assesses the ecological status of shallow Gorbacz Lake (NE Poland) in the last stage before complete drying up. For last few years hydrological regime of the lake catchment has been changed dramatically which was caused by functioning nearby peat mine and longer autumn drought periods for following years. Progressing macrophytes succession leaded complete emergent macrophytes overgrowth of the lake beginning from 2000. The analyses include records of previous samples and data for morphology, water quality, phytoplankton, zooplankton and macrophytes. The trophic status of Gorbacz Lake was verified compare to the previous studies. The results indicate that even with minimum amount of water Gorbacz Lake itself still keeps its dystrophic character with increasing of water color and of DOC, biogenic substances, chlorophyll a concentrations. Humic State Index (HSI) and hydrochemical dystrophy index (HDI) confirm the dystrophic status of the lake with values 71.3 and 76.2 respectively. Both typical phytoplankton representatives of eutrophic and dystrophic waters were recorded. Very high diversity of desmids in the telmatoplankton, indicates the observed process of shallowing in the reservoir. Planktonic crustacean fauna was represented by small filtrators. Rotifera community was strongly dominated by Trichocerca simonei. The article concludes with the main causes of the observed changes and some future remarks for the lake state.

Colder rotifers grow larger but only in oxygenated waters

Why do colder ectotherms grow more slowly but mature at a larger size? Some researchers have argued that oxygen supply and demand play a crucial role in these processes, but many studies conflated the effects of oxygen and temperature. We studied the body sizes of rotifers (Keratella cochlearis) at different depths in 20 European lakes, taking advantage of gradients in oxygen and temperature during summer, when dense, cool waters sink to low depths and become hypoxic. Rotifers were larger in colder waters, but only in the presence of abundant oxygen. In hypoxic waters, rotifers remained small regardless of temperature. We propose that oxygen supply generates a ceiling for maximal possible body size, especially in environments that elevate metabolic demands. Under this condition, any of several processes—developmental plasticity, genetic divergence, size-dependent mortality, or size-dependent selection of microhabitats—could cause a wider range of body sizes in more oxygenated waters, where the maximal possible size exceeds the adaptive size at any temperature.

Spatial distribution of rotifers (Rotifera) in monospecies beds of invasive Vallisneria spiralis L. in heated lakes

Species abundance and richness of rotifer communities occupying monospecies beds of Vallisneria was studied in Lake Licheńskie included in the open cooling system of heat and power stations. Differences were found in rotifer numbers, species composition and diversity between sampling points within the same location and between the locations. Factors that seem to be responsible for the high diversity of rotifer communities inhabiting Vallisneria beds are: large-scale horizontal diversity (between macrophyte patches), small-scale horizontal diversity (within patches) and the high vulnerability of Vallisneria epiphyton to disturbances caused by wave action.

Rotifer Invasion? On Appearance and Abundance of Tropical Species in Lakes of North-Eastern Poland

ABSTRACT: Trichocerca simoneae De Smet described in 1989 has since been found in tropical and subtropical areas, but was not recorded in Poland before World War II. A bibliography of Polish rotifers by Wiszniewski (1953), although very comprehensive, does not refer to T. simoneae. However, in the studies of plankton of the dystrophic lake, i.e. humic one with water rich in humic acids, acidic pH and brown coloured, carried out in the years 1998–2000, the species dominated. Here, studies in 39 small, inter-forest lakes of north-eastern Poland revealed T. simoneae in 15 of them, often at high densities, up to ca 6000 ind L-1. The possible reasons for this ‘invasion’ are: (1) zooplankton communities in dystrophic lakes are unsaturated with biotic interactions too weak to exclude invaders; CCA and RDA analyses showed that T. simoneae preferred habitats with low number of zooplankton species of low density and dystrophic lakes seem to offer such habitats; (2) long-term deposition of rotifer resting eggs is probably more successful in sediments decaying at low rates. The latter possibility seems to be confirmed by observed in the littoral zone of dystrophic lakes appearance from time to time, of rare, mostly tropical species of Rotifera (e.g., Lecane hornemnni, L. monostyla, L. sola).

Effect of metalimnetic gradient on phytoplankton and zooplankton (Rotifera, Crustacea) communities in different trophic conditions

Theory predicts and recent study revealed that depth of the thermocline can strongly influence the nutrient availability and composition of plankton communities. We are focused on the effect of metalimnetic gradients on water chemistry and plankton communities in three stratified lakes with different trophic conditions. Vertical changes in water chemistry revealed significant increase of macroelement concentrations in the metalimnion of all studied lakes. However, there was no significant increase of nutrient concentrations in the thermocline of lakes with smoother metalimnetic gradient, whereas sharp and deep thermocline zone caused higher concentration of orthophosphates and dissolved inorganic nitrogen in the metalimnion. The maximum concentrations of phytoplankton were observed just below the thermocline and were caused mostly by the abundance of diatoms and cryptophytes. Vertical distribution of the crustacean zooplankton was similar to the distribution of phytoplankton. Especially, Daphnia cucullata was strongly related with the phytoplankton distribution and reached maximum densities in deep layers with high chlorophyll concentrations, and, conversely, smaller crustacean species and rotifers were not affected by the vertical distribution of phytoplankton.

Epizoic communities of Rotifera inhabiting sponges in freshwaters of North-Eastern Poland

The species structure of epizoic communities of Rotifera was analyzed on three species of freshwater sponges: Spongilla fragilis Leydy, Spongilla lacustris (L.) Vejd. and Ephydatia fluviatilis (L.) Vejd. In total, all studied sponges hosted 87 rotifer species. Epizoic communities of Rotifera from particular sponges were very diverse, reach in species and unique. Thus, sponges covering both natural substrates and artifacts may create “hot-points” of rotifer species diversity and therefore may play an important role in re-naturalization of wastes.

Effects of zebra mussels on cladoceran communities under eutrophic conditions

The purpose of this study was to determine how zebra mussels affected cladoceran community structure under eutrophic conditions. We conducted a mesocosm study where we manipulated the presence of zebra mussels and the presence of large-bodied Daphnia (Daphnia magna and Daphnia pulicaria). We also conducted a complimentary life-table experiment to determine how water from the zebra mussel treatment affected the life history characteristics of the cladoceran species. We anticipated that small- and large-bodied cladoceran species would respond differently to changes in algal quality and quantity under the effects of zebra mussels. Large-bodied Daphnia successfully established in the zebra mussel treatment but failed to grow in the control. We did not observe positive relationships between food concentrations and cladoceran abundances. However, the phosphorus content in the seston indicated that food quality was below the threshold level for large-bodied cladocerans at the beginning of the experiment. We believe that zebra mussels quickly enhanced the phosphorus content in the seston due to the excretion of inorganic phosphorus, thus facilitating the development of large-bodied Daphnia. In conclusion, our results suggest that zebra mussels can alter the phosphorus content of seston in lakes and this can affect the dynamics of crustacean zooplankton.