Zooplankton populations and the diets of three Chaoborus species (Diptera, Chaoboridae) in a tropical lake

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Abstract
SUMMARY. 1. Zooplankton populations in a small, natural, tropical lake are dominated by a few, small‐sized taxa including the copepod Thermo‐ cyclops consimilis, the cladoceran Moina micrura and several rotifer species.2. Moina micrura and adults of Thermocyclops consimilis undergo diel vertical migrations within the water column. Population densities of T. consimilis show marked intra‐annual variations which may to some extent be related to variations in rainfall and to lunar periodicities In predator abundance.3. The diets of Chaoborus lavae include other Chaoborus, Cladocera, Copepoda. Rotifera and the dinoflagellate Peridinium. The diets of late instars of the largest species, edulis, were dominated by Crustacea, while those of the two smaller species. C, ceratopogones and C. anomalus, were dominated by Rotifera and the dinoflagellate alga Peridinium, as were the diets of early instars of all species. Algae have not been previously reported to be a large component of the diet of Chaoborus populations in nature.4. Some of the dietary differences among Chaoborus instars and species are related to the size of each prey species in relation to the mouth gape of each instar. However, there are also important differences in electivity among instars of different species of the same size.