Zooplankton communities in doline lakes and pools, in relation to some bathymetric parameters and physical and chemical variables

The zooplankton communities from several lakes and pools in three zones of a karstic area in central Spain were studied in spring and early autumn, in relation to morphometric, physical and chemical characteristics of the lak es. Zooplankton diversity was higher in autumn than in spring and it was po sitively correlated with lake size (area and depth) in spring, but not in e arly autumn. This effect is partially explained by the sharp zooplankton st ratification in deep lakes, in early autumn. Some morphometric characterist ics of lake basins were also correlated with the structure of zooplankton c ommunities. Principal component analyses (PCA) and Two-Way Indicator Specie s Analysis (TWINSPAN) performed on zooplankton data and a posterior correla tion analysis with the extracted factors and main limnological parameters s howed that trophic state in the first place, and mineralization in the seco nd place, were the main sources of variance to explain our data. However, t he results of these analyses also show that important sources explaining th e variance of zooplankton data include some factors not quantified in the s tandard limnological analysis, but evidently related to lake typology, such as shallowness and type of water feeding and flux.