This report summarizes Lake Michigan zoo benthic studies up to 1974, including reports of power-plant surveys. It describes ecologies of macro invertebrate species and some micro fauna, partly through use of data from other Great Lakes. The following are discussed:methodology of field surveys;zoo benthic indicators of pollution;zoo benthic effects on sediment-water exchanges;and numbers, biomass, and production of total macro invertebrates. Prominent features of Lake Michigan zoo benthos include predominance of the amphipod Pontopoveia affinis, usefulness of tubificid oligochaetes in mapping environmental quality, and pronounced qualitative gradients in zoo benthos in relation to depth. Further research is needed on sampling methods, energy flow rates and pathways through benthic communities, factors limiting distribution of species near shore, and effects of macro invertebrates on sediment chemistry and structure.
展开▼
