Summary
Two commonly coexisting species of Daphnia segregate by habitat in many stratified lakes. Daphnia pulicaria is mostly found in the hypolimnion whereas D. galeata mendotae undergoes diel vertical migration between the hypolimnion and the epilimnion. I examined how habitat segregation between these two potentially competing species might be affected by trophic interactions with their resources and predators by performing a field experiment in deep enclosures in which I manipulated fish predation, nutrient levels, and the density of epilimnetic Daphnia. The results of the experiment indicate that habitat use by D. pulicaria can be jointly regulated by competition for food from epilimnetic Daphnia and predation by fishes. Patterns of habitat segregation between the two Daphnia species were determined by predation by fish but not by nutrient levels: The removal of epilimnetic fish predators resulted in higher zooplankton and lower epilimnetic phytoplankton densities and allowed D. pulicaria to expand its habitat distribution into the epilimnion. In contrast, increased resource productivity resulted in higher densities of both Daphnia species but did not affect phytoplankton levels or habitat use by Daphnia. The two species exhibit a trade-off in their ability to exploit resources and their susceptibility to predation by fish. D. g. mendotae (the less susceptible species) may thus restrict D. pulicaria (the better resource exploiter) from the epilimnion when fish are common due to lower minimum resource requirements than those needed by D. pulicaria to offset the higher mortality rate imposed by selective epilimnetic fish predators. D. g. mendotae does not appear to have this effect in the absence of fish.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bottrell HH, Duncan A, Gliwicz Z, Grygirek E, Herzig A, Hillbricht-Ilkowska A, Kurasawa H, Larsson P, Weglenska T (1976) A review of some problems in zooplankton production studies. Norw J Zool 24:419–456
Brown J, Rosenzweig M (1986) Habitat selection in slowly regenerating environments. J Theor Biol 123: 151–171
Burns C (1972) Some results and comments on investigations carried out in Fuller Pond, Connecticut, from 27 May 1968 to 17 November 1968. Report to the Board of Trustees of Pond Mountain Natural Area
Dodson S (1988) The ecological role of chemical stimuli for the zooplankton: predator-avoidance behavior in Daphnia. Limnol Oceanogr 33: 1431–1439
Dorazio RM, Bowers J, Lehman J (1986) Food web manipulations influence grazer control of phytoplankton growth rates in Lake Michigan. J Plankt Res 9: 891–899
Geisser S, Greenhouse S (1958) An extension of Box's result on the use of the F distribution in multivariate analysis. Ann Math Stats 29: 885
Geller W (1986) Diurnal vertical migration of zooplankton in a temperate great lake (L. Constance): A starvation avoidance mechanism: Arch Hydrobiol [S] 74: 1–60
Gill J, Hafs H (1971) Analysis of repeated measures of animals. J Anim Sci 33: 331–336
Gilliam J, Frazer D (1989) Predation hazard and habitat selection: Implications for population structure and patterns of resource depletion. In: Ebenman B, Persson L (eds) Size structured populations: Ecology and Evolution. Springer Berlin, Heidelberg New York pp 173–184
Gliwicz M (1986) Predation and the evolution of vertical migration in zooplankton. Nature 320: 746–748
Guillard RL, Lorenzen C (1972) Yellow-green algae with chlorophyllide C. J Phycol 8: 10–14
Gurevitch J, Chester ST (1986) Analysis of repeated measures experiments. Ecology 67: 251–255
Hall DJ, Werner EE (1977) Seasonal distribution and abundance of fishes in the littoral zone of a Michigan lake. Trans Am Fish Soc 106: 545–555
Heaney SI (1978) Some observations on the use of the in vivo fluorescence technique to determine chlorophyll-a in natural populations and cultures of freshwater phytoplankton. Freshw Biol 8: 115–126
Hoenicke R, Goldman C (1987) Resource dynamics and seasonal changes in competitive interactions among three cladoceran species. J Plankt Res 9: 397–417
Johnsen GH, Jakobsen P (1987) The effects of food limitation on vertical migration in Daphnia longispina. Limnol Oceanogr 32: 873–880
Kerfoot WC, DeMott WR (1984) Food web dynamics: Dependent chains and vaulting. In: Meyers DG, Strickler JR (eds) Trophic Interactions Within Aquatic Ecosystems. AAAS Selected Symposium 85, pp 347–383
Kerfoot WC, DeMott WR, DeAngelis DL (1985) Interactions among cladocerans: Food limitation and exploitative competition. Arch Hydrobiol Bewih Ergebn Limnol 21: 431–451
Kiefer D (1973) The in vivo measurement of Chlorophyll by fluorometry. In: Stevenson L, Colwell R (eds) Estuarine Microbial Ecology. Univ. S. Carolina Press
Kratz T, Frost T, Magnuson J (1987) Inferences from spacial and temporal variability in ecosystems: long-term zooplankton data from lakes. Am Nat 129: 830–846
Lane P (1975) The dynamics of aquatic systems: a comparative study of the structure of four zooplankton communities. Ecol Monogr 45: 307–336
Leibold MA (1988) Habitat structure and trophic interactions in freshwater plankton communities. Ph.D. dissertation. Michigan State University
Leibold MA (1989) Resource edibility and consumer-resource interactions in predation and productivity gradients. Am Nat 134: 922–949
Leibold MA (1990) Resources and predation can affect the vertical distributions of zooplankton. Limnol Oceanogr 35: 938–944
Leibold MA, Tessier AJ (1991) Contrasting patterns of body size for Daphnia species that segregate by habitat. Oecologia
Lynch M (1979) Predation, competition and zooplankton community structure: An experimental study. Limnol Oceanogr 24: 253–272
Makarewicz JC, Likens GE (1975) Niche analysis of a zooplankton community. Science 190: 1000–1003
Neill WE (1978) Experimental studies on factors limiting colonization by Daphnia pulex Leydig of coastal montane lakes in British Columbia. Can J Zool 56: 2498–2507
Neill WE (1981) Impact of Chaoborus predation upon the structure and dynamics of a crustacean zooplankton community. Oecologia 48: 164–177
Neill WE, Peacock A (1980) Breaking the bottleneck: Interactions of invertebrate predators and nutrients in oligotrophic lakes. In: Kerfoot WC (ed) Ecology and Evolution of Zooplankton Communities. New England Univ. Press, Hanover, pp 715–724
Osenberg CW, Werner EE, Mittelbach GG, Hall DJ (1988) Growth patterns in bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus) and pumpkinseed (L. gibbosus) sunfish: environmental variation and the importance of ontogenetic niche shifts. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 45: 17–26
Price M (1986) Structure of desert rodent communities: a critical review of questions and approaches. Am Zool 26: 39–49
Rosenzweig M (1981) A theory of habitat selection. Ecology 62: 327–335
SAS Institute Inc. (1985) User's guide. Version 5 Edition. Cary, N.C.
Schoener T (1974) Resource partitioning in ecological communities. Science 185: 27–39
Schoener T (1986) Mechanistic approaches to community ecology: a new reductionism? Am Zool 26: 81–106
Seitz A (1980) The coexistence of three species of Daphnia in the Klostersee: I. Field studies on the dynamics of reproduction. Oecologia 45: 117–130
Seitz A (1984) Are there allelopathic interactions in zooplankton? Laboratory experiments with Daphnia. Oecologia 62: 94–96
Sokal RR, Rohlf FJ (1981) Biometry. 2nd edition. Freeman and Co., San Francisco
Stich HB, Lampert W (1981) Predator evasion as an explanation of diurnal vertical migration by zooplankton. Nature 293: 396–398
Stich HB, Lampert W (1984) Growth and reproduction of migrating and non-migrating Daphnia species under stimulated food and temperature conditions of diurnal vertical migration. Oecologia 61: 192–196
Tappa D (1965) The dynamics of the association of six limnetic species of Daphnia in Aziscoos Lake, Maine. Ecol Monog 35: 395–423
Tessier AJ (1986) Comparative population regulation of two planktonic cladocera (Holopedium gibberum and Daphnia catawba). Ecology 67: 285–302
Tessier AJ, Consolatti NL (1989) Variation in offspring size in Daphnia and consequences for individual fitness. Oikos 56: 269–276
Tessier AJ, Welser J (1991) Cladoceran assemblages, seasonal succession and the importance of a hypolimnetic refuge. Freshw Biology (in press)
Threlked S (1979a) The midsummer dynamics of two Daphnia species in Wintergreen Lake, Michigan. Ecology 60: 165–179
Threlkeld S (1979b) Estimating cladoceran birth rates: the importance of egg mortality and the egg age distribution. Limnol Oceanogr 24: 601–612
Threlkeld S (1980) Habitat selection and population growth of two cladocerans in seasonal environments. In: Kerfoot W. (ed). Ecology and Evolution of Zooplankton Communities, Univ. Press of New England, Hanover, N.H.
Werner EE, Gilliam J (1984) The ontogenetic niche and species interactions in size structured populations. Ann Rev Ecol Syst 15: 393–426
Wetzel RG (1983) Limnology. 2nd ed. Saunders, Philadelphia, PA
Zaret T (1980) Predation and Freshwater Communities. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Leibold, M.A. Trophic interactions and habitat segregation between competing Daphnia species. Oecologia 86, 510–520 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00318317
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00318317