TY  - GEN
A1  - Dubovskaya, Olga P.
A1  - Tang, Kam W.
A1  - Gladyshev, Michail I.
A1  - Kirillin, Georgiy
A1  - Buseva, Zhanna
A1  - Kasprzak, Peter
A1  - Tolomeev, Aleksandr P.
A1  - Grossart, Hans-Peter
T1  - Estimating in situ zooplankton non-predation mortality in an oligo-mesotrophic lake from sediment trap data
BT  - caveats and reality check
T2  - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe
N2  - Background

Mortality is a main driver in zooplankton population biology but it is poorly constrained in models that describe zooplankton population dynamics, food web interactions and nutrient dynamics. Mortality due to non-predation factors is often ignored even though anecdotal evidence of non-predation mass mortality of zooplankton has been reported repeatedly. One way to estimate non-predation mortality rate is to measure the removal rate of carcasses, for which sinking is the primary removal mechanism especially in quiescent shallow water bodies.

Objectives and Results

We used sediment traps to quantify in situ carcass sinking velocity and non-predation mortality rate on eight consecutive days in 2013 for the cladoceran Bosmina longirostris in the oligo-mesotrophic Lake Stechlin; the outcomes were compared against estimates derived from in vitro carcass sinking velocity measurements and an empirical model correcting in vitro sinking velocity for turbulence resuspension and microbial decomposition of carcasses. Our results show that the latter two approaches produced unrealistically high mortality rates of 0.58-1.04 d(-1), whereas the sediment trap approach, when used properly, yielded a mortality rate estimate of 0.015 d(-1), which is more consistent with concurrent population abundance data and comparable to physiological death rate from the literature.

Ecological implications

Zooplankton carcasses may be exposed to water column microbes for days before entering the benthos; therefore, non-predation mortality affects not only zooplankton population dynamics but also microbial and benthic food webs. This would be particularly important for carbon and nitrogen cycles in systems where recurring mid-summer decline of zooplankton population due to non-predation mortality is observed.
T3  - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 501 
KW  - fresh-water
KW  - nonconsumptive mortality
KW  - crustacean zooplankton
KW  - nonpredatory mortality
KW  - siberian reservoir
KW  - seasonal dynamics
KW  - copepod carcasses
KW  - sinking speed
KW  - aniline blue
KW  - marine snow
Y1  - 2019
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-408392
SN  - 1866-8372
IS  - 501
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Dubovskaya, Olga P.
A1  - Tang, Kam W.
A1  - Gladyshev, Michail I.
A1  - Kirillin, Georgiy
A1  - Buseva, Zhanna
A1  - Kasprzak, Peter
A1  - Tolomeev, Aleksandr P.
A1  - Grossart, Hans-Peter
T1  - Estimating In Situ Zooplankton Non-Predation Mortality in an Oligo-Mesotrophic Lake from Sediment Trap Data: Caveats and Reality Check
JF  - PLoS one
N2  - Background
 Mortality is a main driver in zooplankton population biology but it is poorly constrained in models that describe zooplankton population dynamics, food web interactions and nutrient dynamics. Mortality due to non-predation factors is often ignored even though anecdotal evidence of non-predation mass mortality of zooplankton has been reported repeatedly. One way to estimate non-predation mortality rate is to measure the removal rate of carcasses, for which sinking is the primary removal mechanism especially in quiescent shallow water bodies.
 Objectives and Results
 We used sediment traps to quantify in situ carcass sinking velocity and non-predation mortality rate on eight consecutive days in 2013 for the cladoceran Bosmina longirostris in the oligo-mesotrophic Lake Stechlin; the outcomes were compared against estimates derived from in vitro carcass sinking velocity measurements and an empirical model correcting in vitro sinking velocity for turbulence resuspension and microbial decomposition of carcasses. Our results show that the latter two approaches produced unrealistically high mortality rates of 0.58-1.04 d(-1), whereas the sediment trap approach, when used properly, yielded a mortality rate estimate of 0.015 d(-1), which is more consistent with concurrent population abundance data and comparable to physiological death rate from the literature.
 Ecological implications
 Zooplankton carcasses may be exposed to water column microbes for days before entering the benthos; therefore, non-predation mortality affects not only zooplankton population dynamics but also microbial and benthic food webs. This would be particularly important for carbon and nitrogen cycles in systems where recurring mid-summer decline of zooplankton population due to non-predation mortality is observed.
Y1  - 2015
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0131431
SN  - 1932-6203
VL  - 10
IS  - 7
PB  - PLoS
CY  - San Fransisco
ER  -