Lagrangian dynamics of the spring zooplankton community in a large river

Abstract Zooplankton may represent a considerable part of plankton in large rivers, but little is known about the factors that control it. We hypothesized that (1) significant longitudinal increase of zooplankton abundance, biomass, taxonomic richness, and diversity will occur along a free-flowing river section; (2) the residence time of water is more important for zooplankton population growth than environmental variables such as water temperature, oxygen saturation, and food concentration; and (3) the influence of tributaries on the longitudinal dynamics of zooplankton is insignificant or only has a local effect. A Lagrangian survey was applied in the free-flowing section of the River Elbe (Germany) in spring 2022. The abundances and biomass of the dominant rotifers as well as of cladocerans and copepods increased significantly downstream due to the population growth of zooplankton. The water residence time was the most important factor for zooplankton increment. One of the tributaries increased zooplankton abundance and biomass in the River Elbe, while other tributaries did not but the introduction of new species increased taxonomic richness and decreased the evenness of zooplankton in the main river so that diversity remained nearly constant.