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The Influence Of Site Connectivity On Zooplankton Assemblage Dynamics Within The Lower Mississippi River Floodplain, Jarrod Sackreiter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Zooplankton are important components of the food web of such lotic systems. Although capable of motility, they are weak swimmers and their distribution and community composition across a floodplain is strongly affected by patterns of water flow and hydrologic connectivity. However, there has been little research on the zooplankton dynamics of large rivers, such as the Lower Mississippi River (LMR). From morphological identification of zooplankton across the connectivity gradient, I assessed the degree to which hydrologic connectivity acts as an explanatory factor influencing spatial and temporal variation in zooplankton assemblage structure. Second, I compared the use of morphological identification to …