Experimental Study of the Influence of the Time Spent on Land of Semiaquatic Bird Excreta on the Number of Copepoda and the Fecundity of Cladocera

Abstract

In the course of a laboratory experiment in microcosms, it is shown that the input of semiaquatic bird droppings promotes an increase in Copepoda abundance. The number of Copepoda decreases with increasing time of excreta drying in the air, but remains above the control values. The results of water biotesting from the microcosm using Ceriodaphnia dubia Richard demonstrate that the fecundity of the Cladocera increases with the increasing duration of excrement in the air. An assumption is made that the predominance of one or another group of Crustacea is determined by the rate of inflow of bird excrements and may indirectly depend on the ratio of nitrogen and phosphorus in water and, consequently, in feeding objects of crustaceans.