Abiotic variables and phytoplankton effects on zooplanktonic community from a reservoir in northeast Brazil

Abiotic variables and phytoplankton effects on zooplanktonic community from a reservoir in northeast Brazil. Zooplankton from Mundu reservoir, State of Pernambuco, northeast Brazil was studied concerning temporal (hours and seasonal period) and spatial (pelagic and coastal regions in different depths) variabilities, correlating them to the environmental variables and the phytoplankton. Twenty-three infrageneric and five subgeneric zooplankton taxa were observed. On the whole, Rotifera was the dominant group during this study, especially influenced by the oxygen concentrations. Phytoplankton was dominated by Cyanobacteria. On the dry period, physical variables certainly controlled the zooplankton's development, allowing elevated algal densities. On the rainy period, zooplankton correlation with the system's nutrients levels on pelagic region probably conduced to a resources competition between phytoplankton and zooplankton, controlling algal densities.