Life Sciences Commons^™

Zooplankton Abundance And Diversity In Central Florida Grass Carp Ponds, Douglas Lee Fry

Retrospective Theses and Dissertations

The effect of the Asian grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella Val.) and aquatic vegetation upon the zooplankton in four adjacent experimental ponds (0.139 ha each) was studied for one year. Zooplankton were collected with a newly designed shallow-water sampler. Pond 1 contained no aquatic vegetation. Ponds 2, 3, and 4 contained nine species of rooted aquatic plants. Grass carp were stocked into Pond 2 (65 per ha) and Pond 3 (611 per ha). Physicochemical parameters were similar among the ponds. Eighty-eight zooplankton species were enumerated. The abundance of zooplankton groups (Rotifera, Cladocera, and Copepoda) was not significantly different among the ponds …