ABSTRACT 97-08330 Kreeger and Kilham Collaborative Research: Effects of Seston Quantity and Quality on Zooplankton in a Mesotrophic Lake Zooplankton are small animals that abound in lakes where they serve as critical links in the food chain. Zooplankton feed on microscopic plant, animal and dead organic material, called seston. Like most animals, they are known to be negatively affected by poor food availability and quality. This research will use microencapsulation technology to produce a variety of artificial seston particles containing specific biochemicals. These will be analyzed for their suitability as zooplankton diets by measuring digestibility. The best particles will be delivered to zooplankton as nutritional supplements to an otherwise poor diet, and any increase in animal performance will be definitively attributed to the specific biochemical in the supplement. Results of this study will help launch a broader research program to examine how natural, mixed populations of zooplankton can be nutritionally limited, a topic widely perceived to be a fundamental hurdle to an improved understanding of aquatic ecology.
