Seasonal Dynamics of the Zooplankton Community in the Temperate Eutrophic Caygoren Reservoir (Balikesir), Turkey Related to Certain Physicochemical Parameters of Water

Abstract

Seasonal dynamics in the zooplankton community and its relationships with certain physicochemical parameters (water temperature, Secchi disk transparency, conductivity, nitrate-nitrogen (NO3-N), phosphate (PO4), pH, oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) and chlorophyll-a) were studied in the eutrophic Caygoren Reservoir, Turkey from February 2007 to March 2008. Cyclops vicinus was dominant throughout the year; Acanthocyclops robustus was dominant in fall and summer; Asplanchna priodonta was dominant in fall, winter and spring at all stations. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) showed that A. robustus had high correlations to conductivity, C. vicinus to PO4 and NO3-N and Metacyclops gracilis to water temperature and chl-a. The number of individual were significantly different among the seasons and stations (P<0.05). The number of species were significantly different among the seasons (P<0.05), but not among the stations (P>0.05). Zooplankton community in the Caygoren Reservoir underwent changes in species composition from small-bodied