Microzooplankton Grazing and Phytoplankton Growth in a Chinese Lake

Microzooplankton plays an important role in controlling the standing crop of phytoplankton and primary production. However, research on microzooplankton grazing has mainly focused on the ocean and only rarely on eutrophic lakes. In this study we investigated plankton community structures, microzooplankton grazing rates (m), and phytoplankton growth rates (mu) in order to explore microzooplankton grazing in 2 eutrophic sub-lakes of West Lake, Hangzhou, China (Waihu and Xilihu). Results showed that Pseudanabaena sp. was dominant in Waihu without submerged macrophytes, and the larger phytoplankton (> 2 mu m) biomass was higher than the picophytoplankton (< 2 mu m) biomass. However, Xilihu with macrophytes growing was mainly composed of diatoms and green algae, and there was no significant difference between larger phytoplankton and picophytoplankton biomass. Furthermore, in West Lake, the values of m (ranging from 1.58 similar to 3.33/d) and mu (ranged from 1.38 similar to 3.05/d) were higher than those in the ocean. The higher m, mu, and relative preference index (RPI) for picophytoplankton in Waihu indicated that microzooplankton had a significant size-selective grazing on picophytoplankton. However, no significant size-selection was found in Xilihu. These different responses of plankton in Waihu and Xilihu might explain why larger phytoplankton occupy a dominant position in eutrophic lakes.