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Updated: Jul 30, 2025

Laboratory Estimation of Net Trophic Transfer Efficiencies of PCB Congeners to Lake Trout Salvelinus namaycush from Its Prey
Published on: August 29, 2014
Humic lakes with inefficient and efficient transfer of matter in planktonic food webs
Maciej Karpowicz1, Magdalena Grabowska2, Jolanta Ejsmont-Karabin2
1Department of Hydrobiology, Faculty of Biology, University of Białystok, Ciołkowskiego 1J, 15-245, Białystok, Poland. m.karpowicz@uwb.edu.pl.
Abstract:
Humic compounds and related factors are the main constraints for the development of zooplankton in humic lakes, leading to low transfer efficiency in food webs. The results of this study indicated that some zooplankton species could have an advantage under these conditions. We found that the mass development of omnivorous Asplanchna priodonta in temperate humic lakes could be caused by the domination of high nutritional algae such as Gonyostomum semen and Botryococcus braunii. These algae are too large for most zooplankton to ingest, but A. priodonta can feed on a wide range of particles and benefit from this high-nutritional food. Small cladocerans (Ceriodaphnia, Bosmina) might be favored when picoplankton and small algae-dominate humic lakes. Therefore, some zooplankton species could have an advantage and control the development of phytoplankton, leading to the effective transfer of matter and energy in the planktonic food web in humic lakes.
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