The impact of ultraviolet radiation on the vertical distribution of zooplankton of the genus Daphnia

Stephan C. Rhode, Markus Pawlowski and Ralph Tollrian ()
Additional contact information
Stephan C. Rhode: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Zoological Institute
Markus Pawlowski: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Zoological Institute
Ralph Tollrian: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Zoological Institute

Nature, 2001, vol. 412, issue 6842, 69-72

Abstract: Abstract The vertical migration of zooplankton into lower and darker water strata by day is generally explained by the avoidance of visually orienting predators, mainly fish1,2,3,4; however, it is unclear why daily zooplankton migration has been maintained in fishless areas5. In addition to predation, ultraviolet radiation—a hazardous factor for zooplankton in the surface layers of marine and freshwater environments6,7,8—has been suspected as a possible cause of daytime downward migration9. Here we test this hypothesis by studying several Daphnia species, both in a controlled laboratory system and under natural sunlight in an outdoor system. We selected Daphnia species that differed in their pigmentation as both melanin and carotenoids have been shown to protect Daphnia from ultraviolet light10,11. All Daphnia species escaped into significantly deeper water layers under ultraviolet radiation. The extent to which the daphnids responded to this radiation was inversely linked to their pigmentation, which reduced ultraviolet transmission. These results suggest that ultraviolet avoidance is an additional factor in explaining daytime downward migration. Synergistic benefits might have shaped the evolution of this complex behaviour.

Date: 2001
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/35083567 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:412:y:2001:i:6842:d:10.1038_35083567

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/35083567

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().