The enigma of Daphnia death rates

First published in Limnology and Oceanography, 23(5), 970-988. Available from http://www.jstor.org/stable/2835359Birth rates, rates of population change, and mortality rates were computed for Daphnia pulex and Daphnia rosea collected at three separate stations in 2.5-ha meromictic Crawford Lake. Birth and death rates for the same species at the three separate stations, or at the same station but living at slightly different mean depths were substantially different. A correction for tow net efficiency for young and adult animals increased birth rate values by 40%. Mean finite birth rate, B, for Daphnia in a thermally stratified lake is calculated from the relation [see article for formula] where for each stratum, s, E is number of eggs, D is egg development time, N is number of animals, and n is number of strata. An assumption of this formulation is that all individuals in the population behave similarly, but at Crawford Lake D. pulex behaves like two separate populations for at least part of the year. High death rates were calculated for D. rosea in midsummer. A comparison of observed neonates with expected neonates during this period led to the conclusion that most mortality in the population occurs either in late embryos or at hatching

Cladoceran birth and death rates estimates

I. Birth and death rates of natural cladoceran populations cannot be measured directly. Estimates of these population parameters must be calculated using methods that make assumptions about the form of population growth. These methods generally assume that the population has a stable age distribution. 2. To assess the effect of variable age distributions, we tested six egg ratio methods for estimating birth and death rates with data from thirty-seven laboratory populations of Daphnia pulicaria. The populations were grown under constant conditions, but the initial age distributions and egg ratios of the populations varied. Actual death rates were virtually zero, so the difference between the estimated and actual death rates measured the error in both birth and death rate estimates. 3. The results demonstrate that unstable population structures may produce large errors in the birth and death rates estimated by any of these methods. Among the methods tested, Taylor and Slatkin's formula and Paloheimo's formula were most reliable for the experimental data. 4. Further analyses of three of the methods were made using computer simulations of growth of age-structured populations with initially unstable age distributions. These analyses show that the time interval between sampling strongly influences the reliability of birth and death rate estimates. At a sampling interval of 2.5 days (equal to the duration of the egg stage), Paloheimo's formula was most accurate. At longer intervals (7.5–10 days), Taylor and Slatkin's formula which includes information on population structure was most accurate