COMMENTS:

  • Cladocera hold a key position in the aquatic community food chain
  • They are a major prey item in the diets of fish, waterfowl and other invertebrates
  • Cladocera populations are characterized by the hundred fold annual variation in population size
  • Peak population size is durning an algae bloom
  • Algae blooms occur when lakes are mixed in the spring in northern areas or when the reainy season begins in more tropical areas
  • Population decrease is due to predation verse the population increase during an algae bloom
  • (Thorp, 1991 pg.723)