Chydorus
sphaericus
Taxonomy:
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda SubPhylum: Crustacea Class: Branchiopoda Order: Cladocera Family: Chydoridae Genus: Chydorus Species: sphaericus Muller 1785
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Distribution: Chydorus sphaericus has a worldwide distribution
from the equator to the Arctic Circle. It is the most common of all Clodecera
and currently found within all the Great Lakes. Abundence of this species
maybe underestimated due to using to large a mesh size >220 mm while sampling
and only taking water samples from the upper water column. Selgeby (1975)
found Lake Superior to have Chydorus numbers < 1 m3, while moderate
numbers (8000-15,000 organisms/m3) where found in Lake Huron (Watson and
Carpenter 1974), Ontario (McNaught and Buzzard 1973), and Michigan (Gannon
1972, Stewart 1974) and is occasionally quite abundant (3,000 – 30,000
organisms/m3). The highest recorded abudence of Chydorus sphaericus was
1,400,000 organisms/m3 within certain lake bottoms ( Fryer 1968).
Chydorus sphaericus is present throughout the year only in Lake Erie, but
is generally only found within the remaining Great Lakes in the late summer
to late fall (Watson and Carpenter 1974). The highest densities of Chydorus
sphaericus have been recorded during the August and November time frame
(Davis 1954, 1962, Bradshaw 1964, Rolan et al. 1973, Britt et al. 1973,
Beeton and Barker 1974, Gannon 1974, Stewart 1974, Watson and Carpenter
1974 Chydorus sphaericus lives in the littoral zones near the shoreline.
It is closely related to algae present which is one of it’s major food
sources (i.e Anabaena) This organism can live in a wide array of pH levels
ranging from 3.4 to 9.5. Chydorus sphaericus can also with stand varying
levels of dissolved oxygen with a recorded low of 0.36mg/L (Fryer 1968).
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Description: - Spherical carapaces enclosing limbs and
body, round to oval in shape, sometimes punctate or with elevations.
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Ecology: Habitat – Chydorus sphaericus is a nearshore (littoral) organism (Bigre 1893, Wilson 1960, Czaika 1974, Stewart 1974) found within all lentic systems or varying sizes. It can swim well for only short distances, but is most likely to be found clinging to various filamentous algae with its modified limbs (Birge 1897, Fryer 1968). Chydorus is generally found within lakes of higher eutrophication and on or near the bottom sediments. Studies have suggested that this organism migrates away from the bottom sediments after dark to feed within the general safety of low light (Evans and Stewart 1977). Feeding – - Two distinct feeding manners.
Ecological Importance
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Life
History
Davis (1962) while conducting a sampling found
that during the month of October the population was composed of up to 50%
immature adults, and only 8% of the total adult females were carrying eggs
within the brood pouch. Chydorus survive the winter months as adults and
are capable of reproducing under the ice and they show no periodicity in
their reproductive pattern. Chydorus population maxima are not directly
related to physical factors such as light and temperature but are related
to relative abundance of algae species present.
Predation of Chydorus
by fish -
Predator Avoidance – Invertebrate predators detect their prey by
mechanoreceptors. Prey that produce little turbulence are more difficult
to detect, therefore Bosmina and Chydorus take advantage of this fact when
they are pursued by predatory Copepods by tucking their antennae into the
carapace opening and “playing dead man”. This allows them to sink slowly,
producing little turbulence as they avoid predation.
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Research involving Chydorus: Deneke, R. 2000. Review of rotifers and crustaceans in highly acidic environments of pH values 3. Hydrobiologia 433: 167-172. Duigan, C. A. and H. H. Birks, 2000. The late glacial and early Holocene palaeoecology of cladoceran microfossil assemblages at Krakenes, western Norway, with a qualitative reconstruction of temperature changes. Journal of Paleolimnology. 23 (1) :67-76. Garcia, B. E. 1999. Food of introduced mosquitofish: Ontigenetic diet shift and prey selection. Journal of Fish Biology 55 (1) :135-147. Meyers, D. G. 1984 Egg development of a Chydorid cladoceran, Chydorus sphaericus exposed to constant and alternative temperatures significant to secondary productivity in fresh water. Ecology 65, 309-320. Wollmann, K., R, Deneke, B. Nixdorf, and G.
Packroff. 2000. Dynamics of planktonic food webs in three mining lakes
across a pH gradient (pH 2-4). Hydrobiologia 433: 3-14.
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Literature
Cited:
Balcer, M. D., N. L. Korda, and S. I. Dodson.
1984. Zooplankton of the Great Lakes, A guide to the identification and
Ecology of the common Custacean species. The University of Wisconsin Press
174pp.
Lampert, W. and U. Sommer. 1997. Limnoecology: The Ecology of Lakes and Streams. Oxford University Press, New York 382pp. Reed, G. K. and R. D. Wood. 1976. Ecology of Inland Waters and Estuaries. Van Nostrand Inc., New York. 485pp. Ward, H. B., G. C. Wipple, Ed. W. T. Edmonson. 1918. Freshwater Biology Second Edition. John Wiley and Sons, Inc. New York. pp 603.
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