Zooplankton in Monospecies and Mixed Phytocenoses of Stratiotes aloides L. and Sagittaria sagittifolia L. under Experimental Conditions

Abstract

Aquatic plants differing in morphology and metabolic products make unequal changes in the habitat of hydrobionts. The development of zooplankton in monospecies and mixed phytocenoses of the water soldier Stratiotes aloides L. and arrowhead Sagittaria sagittifolia L. has been studied in microcosms. In monospecies phytocenoses of different plants, the preferential development of one or another species of littoral Cladocera is found. The number of predators and species diversity increase in zooplankton as the spatial organization becomes more complex. Zooplankton in the phytocenosis, formed simultaneously by two species of plants, has features characteristic of monospecies phytocenoses, as well as its own peculiarities, primarily related to the development of euplankton species. It is assumed that aquatic plants indirectly affect zooplankton via changes in the quantitative ratio of different groups of food organisms.