ANALYSIS OF PHYTOPLANKTON-ZOOPLANKTON RELATIONSHIPS IN AN OLIGOTROPHIC LAKE UNDER NATURAL AND MANIPULATED CONDITIONS

During August, 1987, we performed a series of Limnocorral experiments in lake La Caldera, a small winter-kill lake in which phytoplankton is strikingly nutrient-limited. The effects of biomanipulation on zooplankton-phytoplankton relationships were assessed by monitoring both individual species and whole-assemblage responses. Two sizes of enclosures were used (15 and 350 litres) and two treatments were assayed: 1) removal of zooplankton by 45 μm filter net and 2) doubling the natural grazing pressure by increasing the zooplankton concentration. Results show the two enclosure types to differ strikingly: flagellates disappeared from the small enclosures, resulting in four- to six-fold changes in chlorophyll a concentration and three- to four-fold changes in number of individuals. Most species were grazed (a prey selectivity based on criteria other than size was observed) and their net growth rate increased with zooplankton concentration, causing a net increase in the phytoplankton growth, a stimulatory effect probably through nutrient regeneration that overrides the losses due to grazing. © 1990 Kluwer Academic Publishers.