ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Microzooplankton Grazing and Phytoplankton
Growth in a Chinese Lake
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1
State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology,
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China
2
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Submission date: 2017-09-13
Final revision date: 2018-01-05
Acceptance date: 2018-01-21
Online publication date: 2018-08-06
Publication date: 2018-11-20
Corresponding author
Qiaohong Zhou
State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China, No. 7 Donghu South Road, Wuchang District, Wuhan, Hubei Province, 430072 Wuhan, China
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2019;28(1):225-235
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ABSTRACT
Microzooplankton plays an important role in controlling the standing crop of phytoplankton
and primary production. However, research on microzooplankton grazing has mainly focused on
the ocean and only rarely on eutrophic lakes. In this study we investigated plankton community
structures, microzooplankton grazing rates (m), and phytoplankton growth rates (μ) in order to explore
microzooplankton grazing in 2 eutrophic sub-lakes of West Lake, Hangzhou, China (Waihu and Xilihu).
Results showed that Pseudanabaena sp. was dominant in Waihu without submerged macrophytes, and the
larger phytoplankton (>2 μm) biomass was higher than the picophytoplankton (<2 μm) biomass. However,
Xilihu with macrophytes growing was mainly composed of diatoms and green algae, and there was no
significant difference between larger phytoplankton and picophytoplankton biomass. Furthermore, in
West Lake, the values of m (ranging from 1.58~3.33/d) and μ (ranged from 1.38~3.05/d) were higher than
those in the ocean. The higher m, μ, and relative preference index (RPI) for picophytoplankton in Waihu
indicated that microzooplankton had a significant size-selective grazing on picophytoplankton. However,
no significant size-selection was found in Xilihu. These different responses of plankton in Waihu and
Xilihu might explain why larger phytoplankton occupy a dominant position in eutrophic lakes.