Local and regional factors influencing zooplankton communities in the connected Kasseb Reservoir, Tunisia

Abstract

Associations between zooplankton community structure and abiotic (temperature, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, nutriments) and biotic factors (chlorophyll a and phytoplankton community) were examined, in Kasseb Reservoir, northern Tunisia. Samples were taken bimonthly from July to December 2002 at 3 sampling stations (deepest station: Station 1, Brik River: Station 2 and M’Zaz Stama River: Station 3) . From our results it is evident that zooplankton exhibit seasonally and spatially heterogeneous distribution. The highest density of zooplankton was recorded in September at a depth of 5 m (10.8 × 10 3 ind∙ℓ-1). At Station 1 cyclopoid copepods (65% of total abundance) were the most abundant group followed by Cladocera (21% of total abundance). At Station 2 (93% of total abundance) and Station 3 (98% of total abundance) cyclopoid copepods were numerically dominant throughout the study period. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) was used to estimate the influence of abiotic and biotic factors in structuring the zooplankton assemblage.

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