TITLE:
Study about Top-Down and Bottom-Up Controls in Regulating the Phytoplankton Biomass in a Eutrophic Reservoir in Northeastern Brazil
AUTHORS:
Juliana dos Santos Severiano, Ariadne do Nascimento Moura, Enaide Marinho de Melo Magalhães, Viviane Lúcia dos Santos Almeida
KEYWORDS:
Chlorophyll a; Nutrients; Zooplankton; Tropical Regions
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Water Resource and Protection,
Vol.4 No.8,
August
30,
2012
ABSTRACT: This study aims to analyze the effects of nutrients and predation by zooplankton on phytoplankton biomass (chlorophyll a) in a eutrophic reservoir in Brazil (Apipucos Reservoir, State of Pernambuco), through experiments in microcosms. For this, samples of water were placed in 1 L Erlenmeyer flasks and kept for seven days. Treatments included the addition of nutrients (nitrogen combined with phosphorus and isolated additions of nitrogen and phosphorus), with presence and absence of zooplankton and a control which contained the reservoir water without any manipulation. The addition of nutrients did not stimulate phytoplankton growth. However, zooplankton significantly decreased phytoplankton biomass in the treatments it was added to (p