Appendix S1 Composition of zooplankton and phytoplankton communities in the source
ponds
Figure 1 represents the taxonomic composition of the zooplankton and phytoplankton
communities in the inocula that were used to start up the experiments. The composition of the
phytoplankton and zooplankton communities varied strongly among source ponds. The set of
selected ponds can therefore be considered a diverse representation of the regional species
pool.
Crustacean zooplankton communities were numerically dominated by Bosmina and cyclopoid
copepods. Other important taxa were Ceriodaphnia, calanoids copepods and taxa of the
Daphnia galeata species complex. D. magna was only found to occur in one source pond.
Species from the genera Chydorus, Simocephalus, Scapholeberus, Pleuroxus, Alona,
Eurycercus, Macrothrix and Alonella were occasionally found in low numbers (see Rest
fraction).
Bacillariophyceae, Chlorophyceae and Cyanophyceae were the numerically dominant classes
in the majority of the ponds and were represented by 21, 71 and 18 taxa, respectively. The
classes Chrysophyceae (2 taxa), Dinophyceae (3 taxa) and Euglenophyceae (5 taxa) each
dominated one pond. Desmidiaceae (10 taxa) and Cryptophyceae (3 taxa) were present but in
low numbers and in a minority of the ponds.
Crustacean zooplankton
100
(3)
(4) (5) (3) (10) (4)
(5) (4) (5) (5) (5) (1) (4) (2) (4) (1)
Relative abundance (%)
80
Bosmina
Cyclopoid copepods
Ceriodaphnia
Calanoid copepods
D. galeata
D. magna
Rest
60
40
20
0
Phytoplankton
(16) (13) (12) (22) (15) (38) (25) (19) (20) (8) (34) (28) (17) (25) (45) (13)
100
Relative abundance (%)
80
Bacillariophyceae
Chlorophyceae
Cyanophyceae
Euglenophyceae
Chrysophyceae
Dinophyceae
Desmidiaphyceae
Cryptophyceae
60
40
20
OM4
VDDIEEx
OM3
WBTWIn
VBTWNa
Arenberg gr
ZW3
Arenberg kl
ZW2
ZW1
M13
LiHas
Teut5
Teut4
Teut2
Teut1
0
Figure 1. Composition of zooplankton and phytoplankton communities in the 16 ponds and
lakes that were used to inoculate the mesocosms of the experiment. The upper graph
represents the species composition of the crustacean zooplankton community. The lower
graph represents the composition of the phytoplankton communities at the class level.
Numbers between brackets above the bars represent the total number of observed taxonomical
units found in the ponds.