Using Seasonal Succession in Lake Plankton To Illustrate Concepts of Community Structure & Species Diversity

摘要

[...] the microscopic scale of plankton communities allows for easy preservation and transport of samples to the lab for data collection Planktonic taxa can be more difficult for students to identify than macroscopic plants and animals, but fortunately, many parameters of community structure require merely that students discriminate between species and don't require actual identification This article presents a simple technique for easy viewing of lake plankton communities, a simple dichotomous key that will ease students into the identification process, and a suggestion for an exercise to demonstrate changes in community structure as a result of seasonal succession. After successfully performing the following exercise, the students will: * know how ecologists and environmental scientists describe community structure and quantify species diversity. * become familiar with some of the constituents of lake plankton communities. * be able to list some of the factors that cause lake communities to change with the seasons. * be able to use dichotomous keys for identification of specimens. * improve their microscope skills. * Background Lake Plankton Plankton are those organisms that live in the water and drift with the currents.