| Popis: |
Microscopic invertebrates, including main groups of zooplankton: Rotifera, Cladocera and Copepoda, are sentinel organisms for environmental deterioration and play an important role in the food web connectance of shallow waterbodies. Preservation of these ecosystems is important due to many socio-ecological reasons, i.e. increasing of landscape and biocoenotic heterogeneity. In this study we assessed (i) interplay of environmental factors and zooplankton assemblage in shallow lakes under different climate conditions: temperate, in the north (Poland) and south (Croatia) Europe, and Mediterranean (Adriatic Sea, Croatia), and (ii) zooplankton role in the lake restoration mediated by macrophytes. Results extracted rotifers as most abundant group of zooplankton, and demonstrated an increase of zooplankton diversity with habitat complexity, i.e. macrophyte coverage. Submerged macrophytes were of high importance in the lake restoration, mitigating the lake eutrophication. Zooplankton patterns show a quick response on alteration of environmental conditions and could be applied as an indicator of accelerated climate changes. |
