Diurnal variation in planktonic crustacean population densities in a marginal lake of the Brazilian Pantanal

摘要

Studies on the zooplankton of marginal lakes in Brazil, especially in the centre-west region that includes the Pantanal wetland, consist primarily of taxonomic inventories; ecological estimates of abundance have generally considered each system as a whole (Neves et al. 2003 and references therein). Information on horizontal and vertical distributions of zooplankton, including diurnal and seasonal changes, and their potential food items (phytoplankton) and potential predators (invertebrates, fish) within any particular lake is lacking. Such information is important when considering interactions between species (Perticarrari et al. 2004, Pelicice et al. 2005, Iglesias et al. 2007). We analyzed the vertical distribution of the crustacean zooplankton during a 12-hour period in the open water of a shallow marginal lake in the Pantanal wetland.