• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.543-562
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• 1996

Zooplankton community structure and the factors correlated with community differences were examined in sandusky Bay (SB) and the open water of Lake Erie (LE, U.S.A.). SB zooplankton communities differed from those in LE by having a greater rotifer density and species richness. Keratella spp., Brachionus spp., and Pompholyx complanata dominated SB rotifers; Brachionus and Pompholyx were rarely seen in LE. Of 19 rotifer species observed, nine species were found only at SB sites. Ordination of zooplankton species abundance by detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) showed an overlap between SB and LE sites, but indicated a portion of the space that was occupied by only SB communities. The seasonal trajectories of zooplankton dynamics in the ordination space at SB sites differed from that of LE. The zooplankton most important in forcing site separation along a DCA Axis I at SB sites were Brachionus angularis, Pompholyx complanata, Keratella valga, Keratella quadrata, Filinia terminalis (rotifers), and Eubosmina coregoni and Daphnia (cladocerans). These species had axis scores which were significantly correlated (p<0.01) with bacterial density and bacterial phosphorus, total phosphorus, and algal density. Very high baterial density and very abundant bacterivorous rotifers in SB suggest that the transport of bacterial carbon through rotifers may be a relatively important link to higher trophic leaels. We believe that this "microbial carbon flow" from the base of the food web may be important in determining the suitability of SB as a spawning site and nursery for larval and juvenile fish.nile fish.