We have been monitoring a temperate lake during the winter and observing Daphnia under the ice, when normally they would not be found in the water column. Some of which still have asexual eggs. The system is hyper-eutrophic which is leading us to think perhaps food conditions still permit growth even though temperature is cold.
Has anyone else observed Daphnia in winter or under the ice in lakes? Thanks.
Dear Brian,
I straggled all my life against opinion of "hydrobiological season", the result of efforts of some old air breakers to have safe winter without any expeditions. You can see some our works appeared last time on my site that sometimes you have burst of life exactly in winter, even in benthos of the mountains. In zooplankton of fresh and salt basins it is the same, especially lenthic basins.The very good studies of the question are in the USSR hydrobiological list, when was perfect support of investigations. Moreover, some things can discover ONLY in winter (look, please, my Chapter in English translation of the Book "Bioproductivity and water quality of the Sassyk Reservoir..." (in my site).
I'm attaching for you the book of Dr. Rivier from Russia, that practically all life investigated zooplankton with emphasis on winter. Sorry, ih Russian, and too large to translate for you. But if need something smaller, can help.
So, be sure. A lot of in winter, but not always in awful concentrations!
Andrey
I colected Daphnia under the ice when I was sampling for larvae of large branchiopods in temporary ponds and puddles in western Poland. Let me know if you are interested in details - I would have to look for the data.
Hi Brian
There is some literature also from other counties on daphnids spending the winter as adult females. For instance, Larsson & Wathne (2006) reported adult females during winter in oligotrophic mountain lakes. They claimed that females that produced ephippia in the autumn have less reserve energy at that time, than those spending the winter as adults. Furthermore, Lampert et al. (2010) hypothesized that females can exhibit a mixed strategy, first produce ephippia, then spend the winter in an active state. Hamrova et al. (2011), however, found strong clonal variation among populations regarding their reproductive strategy during unfavourable conditions. Thus, high food density appears not to be a prerequisite for adult females under ice in winter, but perhaps rich winter conditions may improve the survival of the adults during winter. Larsson & Wathne (2006) reported high mortality towards the end of the winter in oligotrophic, alpine lakes and assumed that this is due to lack of reserve energy in support of your hypothesis.
References
Hamrova et al. BMC 2011 11:231
Larsson & Wathne (2006) Arch Hydrobiol 167: 265-280
Lampert et al. (2010) in oligotrphic mountain lakes. Limnol. Oceanogr., 55(5): 1893–1900.
Bror
Hi,
I found the papers from Slusarczyk quite informative. he studied alpine lakes in Poland and found Daphnia to overwinter successfully under ice as adults:
Slusarczyk, M. Extended lifespan traded for diapause in Daphnia Freshwater Biology, 2009, 54, 2252-2262
Gliwicz, Z. M.; Slusarczyk, A. & Slusarczyk, M. Life history synchronization in a long-lifespan single-cohort Daphnia population in a fishless alpine lake Oecologia, 2001, 128, 368-378
cheers - Karsten
Thanks for the suggestions everyone! I will definitely take a look at these.
Dear Brian!
According to our long-term (since 1945) observations on Lake Baikal Daphnia longispina can be observed in 0-50 m during "winter months" (12, 1, 2) even under the ice (in 1-2), but never during "spring months" (3-5), when lake is covered with ice. Deeper (at the depths 50-250 m) it is normal to discover D. longispina even in February (long-term average number - about 40 spec./m3, higher than for December-January, 0-10 spec./m3), but it disappears in March.
Hi Brian: I was skimming through these various sources and I saw your April question about over wintering Daphnia. I note that I am a little late in answering but I noticed that most of answers referred to European lakes. Conesus Lake is one of the Finger Lakes of New York. It is a eutrophic lake and there was a Ph.D. thesis completed by Ed Mills in the early 70s. As I "recall" he observed a large Daphnia, probably pulex, into December in fairly large numbers. Not sure if that helps you any but if needed I can try to locate the data. It can be hard to find.
Best,
Joe Mkarewicz
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Correction