Intrapopulation Variability of Cladocerans (Cladocera, Daphniiformes) in Lake Baikal
Daphnia, cyclomorphosis, morphological variability, body length, height of helmet, tail spine length, fertility
In lake Baikal (Eastern Siberia, Russia) cladocerans play an important role in the zooplankton of bays and coastal shallows. Populations of D. galeata Sars, 1863 and D. hyalina Leydig, 1860 are characterized by high local variability of size-age structure, morphological properties, life history, and other adaptive strategies related to the influence of abiotic factors, and response to predation. Daphnia are subjected to predation in bays with abundant feeding reserves and have strong defensive structures, grow in fertility and size of the brood. Such variability of adaptive traits can only be attained in terms of sufficient food supply. Daphnia collected in the open parts of pelagic systems showed such adaptive variations typical of cold environments with food deficiency as a larger body size and lower fertility.
Журнал Сибирского федерального университета: Серия Биология