A COMPARISON BETWEEN PREDATION EFFECTS ON ZOOPLANKTON COMMUNITIES BY NEOMYSIS AND CHAOBORUS

Community level effects of predation by two invertebrate predators, the opossum shrimp (Neomysis intermedia), and the larva of the phantom midge (Chaoborus flavicans) were studied and compared. N. intermedia appeared abundantly in the shallow eutrophic Lake Kasumigaura and had a significant impact on the zooplankton community. The predation pressure by Neomysis was highest on cladocerans, followed by rotifers, and finally copepods. At high densities (maximum nearly 20 000 individuals m-2), Neomysis excluded almost all cladocerans, rotifers and copepods from the lake. Zooplankton communities were established in experimental ponds, into which C. flavicans was introduced. The predator's density was around 1 individual l-1, and was probably controled by cannibalism. Although Chaoborus larvae feed on various zooplankton species, their predation impact on zooplankton populations was markedly selective. They eliminated medium- and small-sized cladocerans and calanoid copepods from the ponds, but rotifers increased. Although the feeding selectivities of Neomysis and Chaoborus individuals were similar, the predation effects on zooplankton communities by the two predators were different. © 1990 Kluwer Academic Publishers.