Competition for food in macroplankton animals in the Vistula Lagoon

Competition for food can be observed in the macroplankton community in the Vistula Lagoon (northern Poland) in the spring (April-May-June). This is the time of mass occurrence of early developmental stages of the Baltic Sea herring, the European smelt, perch, and stickleback. Additionally, some quan...

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Main Author: Krzysztof W. Opaliński
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Uniwersytet Kardynała Stefana Wyszyńskiego w Warszawie 2014-12-01
Series:Studia Ecologiae et Bioethicae
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Online Access:https://czasopisma.uksw.edu.pl/index.php/seb/article/view/6668
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author Krzysztof W. Opaliński
author_facet Krzysztof W. Opaliński
author_sort Krzysztof W. Opaliński
collection DOAJ
description Competition for food can be observed in the macroplankton community in the Vistula Lagoon (northern Poland) in the spring (April-May-June). This is the time of mass occurrence of early developmental stages of the Baltic Sea herring, the European smelt, perch, and stickleback. Additionally, some quantities of the shrimp Neomysis integer can be found. These species use the same food resources, i.e. small zooplankton, but they occupy different habitats. However, in a very special situation in the Vistula Lagoon (low depth and water mixing by winds), they are living together and compete for food. The purpose of this paper is to find out which species is the superior competitor for food among the macroplankton living in the Vistula Lagoon. Animal size (dry weight Dw), daily consumption rate (C), and coefficients of food assimilation efficiency (U-1), as well as utilization of consumed energy for growth (K1), and utilization of assimilated energy for growth (K2) by individuals of particular species were used as measures of individual success in competition for food. Animal abundance (n m-3), the daily consumption rate of individuals of particular species living in the unit of water volume (J m-3 d-1), and total food consumed by animals of particular species living in the unit of water volume as a percent of the total food available were used as measures of population (or species) success in competition for food. The results do not provide a clear indication of which species is a superior competitor for food. Because competition occurs at the level of individuals rather than populations, a question arises why just Neomysis, despite their lowest food consumption and the lowest daily production rate succeeded in reaching high population numbers and sum of daily food consumption by the population.
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publisher Uniwersytet Kardynała Stefana Wyszyńskiego w Warszawie
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spelling doaj-art-712e1ab0c46e46d696762be2c930af242025-02-02T04:02:17ZengUniwersytet Kardynała Stefana Wyszyńskiego w WarszawieStudia Ecologiae et Bioethicae1733-12182014-12-0112410.21697/seb.2014.12.4.07Competition for food in macroplankton animals in the Vistula LagoonKrzysztof W. Opaliński0Institute of Ecology and Bioethics, Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaw, PolandCompetition for food can be observed in the macroplankton community in the Vistula Lagoon (northern Poland) in the spring (April-May-June). This is the time of mass occurrence of early developmental stages of the Baltic Sea herring, the European smelt, perch, and stickleback. Additionally, some quantities of the shrimp Neomysis integer can be found. These species use the same food resources, i.e. small zooplankton, but they occupy different habitats. However, in a very special situation in the Vistula Lagoon (low depth and water mixing by winds), they are living together and compete for food. The purpose of this paper is to find out which species is the superior competitor for food among the macroplankton living in the Vistula Lagoon. Animal size (dry weight Dw), daily consumption rate (C), and coefficients of food assimilation efficiency (U-1), as well as utilization of consumed energy for growth (K1), and utilization of assimilated energy for growth (K2) by individuals of particular species were used as measures of individual success in competition for food. Animal abundance (n m-3), the daily consumption rate of individuals of particular species living in the unit of water volume (J m-3 d-1), and total food consumed by animals of particular species living in the unit of water volume as a percent of the total food available were used as measures of population (or species) success in competition for food. The results do not provide a clear indication of which species is a superior competitor for food. Because competition occurs at the level of individuals rather than populations, a question arises why just Neomysis, despite their lowest food consumption and the lowest daily production rate succeeded in reaching high population numbers and sum of daily food consumption by the population.https://czasopisma.uksw.edu.pl/index.php/seb/article/view/6668interspecific competitionearly developmental stages of the speciesVistula Lagoon
spellingShingle Krzysztof W. Opaliński
Competition for food in macroplankton animals in the Vistula Lagoon
Studia Ecologiae et Bioethicae
interspecific competition
early developmental stages of the species
Vistula Lagoon
title Competition for food in macroplankton animals in the Vistula Lagoon
title_full Competition for food in macroplankton animals in the Vistula Lagoon
title_fullStr Competition for food in macroplankton animals in the Vistula Lagoon
title_full_unstemmed Competition for food in macroplankton animals in the Vistula Lagoon
title_short Competition for food in macroplankton animals in the Vistula Lagoon
title_sort competition for food in macroplankton animals in the vistula lagoon
topic interspecific competition
early developmental stages of the species
Vistula Lagoon
url https://czasopisma.uksw.edu.pl/index.php/seb/article/view/6668
work_keys_str_mv AT krzysztofwopalinski competitionforfoodinmacroplanktonanimalsinthevistulalagoon