Freshwater zooplankton diel vertical migration and carbon flux under varying levels of planktivory: A mesocosm-based approach
Schmidt, Anna
Schmidt, Anna
Citations
Altmetric:
License
License
DOI
Abstract
Zooplankton often exhibit diel vertical migration (DVM) in lakes, whereby they reside in deeper waters during the day to avoid fish predation and migrate to surface waters at night to feed on phytoplankton. Zooplankton DVM may contribute to downward transport of organic carbon to deep waters and sediments in lakes. We manipulated planktivorous fish densities in 14 large mesocosms in Lake Stechlin, Germany in spring 2023 to investigate differences in DVM behavior of zooplankton functional groups and quantify impacts of DVM on carbon cycling. Our results contribute to understanding how fish communities alter zooplankton behavioral dynamics and lake ecosystem function.
Description
Undergraduate
Date
2025-06-02