The resting eggs of zooplankton from a tropical, eutrophic reservoir (Pampulha Reservoir, south‐east Brazil)

Resting eggs of rotifers and cladocerans were collected within 5 cm of sediments from the eutrophic Pampulha Reservoir. All the collected species were successfully hatched and reared in the laboratory. Although the hatching success of rotifer eggs was high (60–80%), it constituted only about 10% of the level of cladoceran eggs. The egg abundance in Pampulha Reservoir varied from 203.2 × 10 3 eggs m −2 to 80 × 10 3 eggs m −2 . The low densities of resting eggs suggest that the recovery activities directed to the reservoir, such as constant dredging of the sediment, might be affecting this potential genetic pool and, consequently, the maintenance of the remaining and pioneer zooplanktonic populations.