Regional versus local processes in determining zooplankton community composition of little Rock Lake, Wisconsin, USA

• Published in: Journal of plankton research Vol. 21; no. 5; pp. 991 - 1003
• Main Authors: LUKASZEWSKI, Y, ARNOTT, S. E, FROST, T. M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Oxford University Press 01.05.1999; Oxford Publishing Limited (England)
• Subjects: Animal and plant ecology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Biological and medical sciences; Community composition; Fresh water ecosystems; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Inland waters; Introduced species; Lakes; Mesocosms; Population decline; Species richness; Synecology; Zooplankton; United States; North America; Wisconsin; America; USA, Wisconsin, Little Rock L; Community structure; Protozoa; Environmental factor; Regional; Animal introduction; Local effect; Freshwater environment; Animal community; Lakes; Biomanipulation; Invertebrata; Zooplankton; Species richness; Anthropogenic factor
• ISSN: 0142-7873; 1464-3774; 1464-3774
• DOI: 10.1093/plankt/21.5.991

The species present within a community result from a combination of local and regional processes. We experimentally tested the importance of these two processes for lake zooplankton communities by examining the ability of additional species to persist when introduced into mesocosms in Little Rock Lake, Wisconsin, from other nearby lakes in the Northern Highland Lake District. We established a control treatment with only Little Rock Lake zooplankton and two treatments that supplemented the Little Rock communities with zooplankton from nearby lakes. Species richness declined during the 3 weeks of the experiment so that, at the end of the third week, the treatments with added zooplankton species had the same number of species as the controls; increasing the initial number of species in the community did not increase its final species richness. A plot of the mean species richness in the local habitat against the mean species richness of the regional pool fell below a 1:1 slope. This suggested that local processes were more important in structuring Little Rock Lake zooplankton communities.