NPS photo

Little Chapel Lake

Zooplankton communities vary among the lakes. In addition, these communities vary seasonally and with depth within the same lake. To date, 35 taxa of cladocerans, 11 species of calanoid and cyclopoid copepods, and two genera of rotifers have been identified from eight lakes in Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

As is typical, one cladoceran species, one calanoid copepod species, and one cyclopoid copepod species dominate the zooplankton community in a lake, with other species occurring at much lower relative frequencies. Dominant zooplankton taxa include the cladocerans Bosmina longirostris, Eurycercus lamellatus, Daphnia galeata mendotae, Holopedium gibberum, and Pseudochydorus globosus; the calanoid copepods Skistodiaptomus oregonensis, Epischura lacustris; the cyclopoid copepods Cyclops vernalis and Diacyclops bicuspidatus thomasi; and rotifers of the genus Keratella.