The Role of Filtering Zooplankton in De-Eutrophication of Water Bodies

The filtration capacity of large-size cladoceras is examined. Cladoceras Simocephalus vetulus with a biomass of 1.6 g/l in flow-through ecosystems isolated from ichthyifauna can reduce phytoplankton biomass from 2.89 to 0.12 mg/l within 1 h. Particularly, the biomass of blue-green algae Anabaena spiroides decreases from 0.14 to 0.01 mg/l, and their filaments shorten. In the period when phytoplankton biomass in the water body was at maximum, the activity of cladoceras (biomass of 2.1 g/l) resulted in a decrease in this biomass in flow-through ecosystems by a factor of 13.6 (down to 0.34 mg/l). The decrease in phytoplankton biomass in flow-through ecosystems facilitated changes in its composition in the water body (an increase in the share of green algae) and was accompanied by an increase in water transparency.__________Translated from Vodnye Resursy, Vol. 32, No. 3, 2005, pp. 371–379.Original Russian Text Copyright © 2005 by Pogozhev, Gerasimova.