Plankton vertical migrations - Implications for the pelagic ecosystem [Elektronische Ressource] / Florian Haupt. Betreuer: Herwig Stibor

Plankton vertical migrations Implications for the pelagic ecosystem Dissertation zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades der Naturwissenschaften Dr. rer. nat. der Fakultät für Biologie der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München von Florian Haupt Zur Beurteilung eingereicht im April 2011 Abstract 2 Tag der mündlichen Prüfung: 04.10.2011 Gutachter: 1. Gutachter: Prof. Dr. Herwig Stibor 2. Gutachter: Prof. Dr. Wilfried Gabriel Abstract 3 Abstract Habitat selection is an important behavior of many organisms. The direction and strength of this behavior is often characterized as a result of a trade off between predator avoidance and obtaining resources. A characteristic example of this trade off may be seen in organisms in the pelagic ecosystem in the form of vertical migrations. Diel vertical migration (DVM) is a predator avoidance behavior of many zooplankton species, which is marked by a significant shift in the vertical distribution of the zooplankton where night time is spent in the epilimnion and day time in the hypolimnion While the causes of DVM and its ecophysiological consequences for the zooplankton are well studied, little is known about the consequences of DVM for the pelagic food ecosystem.