Taxonomy and Ecology of Zooplankton

Topic Information

Dear Colleagues,

Zooplankton represents one of the most essential and diverse communities in aquatic ecosystems, playing a pivotal role in global biogeochemical cycles, food web dynamics, and ecosystem functioning. These organisms are fundamental to the health of both marine and freshwater environments, serving as key intermediaries between primary producers and higher trophic levels. Moreover, the ecological well-being of terrestrial systems is also indirectly linked to the stability of aquatic zooplankton populations through climate regulation and nutrient transport.

This topic volume seeks to bring together contributions that explore the current state of knowledge on zooplankton biodiversity, ecology, and evolution. We welcome studies on any group of organisms classified as zooplankton, broadly defined to include a wide range of zoological taxa. In addition to classical groups such as copepods, cladocerans, and rotifers, we encourage submissions focusing on less traditional but still ecologically relevant taxa, including protists, water mites, ostracods, chaetognaths, and larval stages of invertebrates or vertebrates, including chironomids or any other dipteran. Contributions may address topics ranging from systematics and biogeography to functional roles in ecosystems, responses to environmental change, and methodological innovations for their study, including DNA analyses or new sampling methods.

Prof. Dr. Manuel Elias-Gutierrez
Prof. Dr. Alexey A. Kotov
Topic Editors

Keywords

Participating Journals

Journal Name	Impact Factor	CiteScore	Launched Year	First Decision (median)	APC
Diversity diversity	2.1	4.0	2009	16.6 Days	CHF 2100	Submit
Journal of Marine Science and Engineering jmse	2.8	5.0	2013	16.5 Days	CHF 2600	Submit
Sustainability sustainability	3.3	7.7	2009	17.9 Days	CHF 2400	Submit
Taxonomy taxonomy	1.5	2.4	2021	25.3 Days	CHF 1200	Submit
Water water	3.0	6.0	2009	18.9 Days	CHF 2600	Submit

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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All Diversity JMSE Sustainability Taxonomy Water

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27 pages, 5190 KB  

Open AccessArticle

Cascade Dam Development Restructures Multi-Trophic Aquatic Communities Through Environmental Filtering in the Hanjiang River, the Largest Tributary of the Yangtze, China

by Laiyin Shen, Teng Miao, Yan Ye, Chen He, Jinglin Wang, Yi Zhang, Hang Zhang, Yanxin Hu, Nianlai Zhou and Chi Zhou

Sustainability 2026, 18(8), 3731; https://doi.org/10.3390/su18083731 - 9 Apr 2026

Viewed by 494

Abstract

Reconciling hydropower development with aquatic biodiversity conservation is a central challenge for sustainable river management worldwide. Cascade dam configurations, in which multiple impoundments are arranged in series along a single channel, impose longitudinal environmental gradients that restructure biological communities across trophic levels. Whether [...] Read more.

Reconciling hydropower development with aquatic biodiversity conservation is a central challenge for sustainable river management worldwide. Cascade dam configurations, in which multiple impoundments are arranged in series along a single channel, impose longitudinal environmental gradients that restructure biological communities across trophic levels. Whether the resulting multi-trophic responses are independently driven by shared abiotic gradients (environmental filtering) or mechanistically coupled through direct food-web interactions (trophic cascading) remains unresolved. We surveyed phytoplankton, zooplankton, and benthic macroinvertebrates simultaneously at seven stations along a 430 km gradient downstream of Danjiangkou Dam in the Hanjiang River, the largest tributary of the Yangtze River and the source of China’s South-to-North Water Diversion Middle Route, over eight seasonal campaigns (2015–2017). Variance partitioning, piecewise structural equation modeling, Mantel tests, and co-occurrence network analysis were applied to partition environmental and trophic pathways. Environmental filtering dominated community restructuring at all three trophic levels, while the biotic proxy for direct trophic interactions explained less than 0.4% of community variation, consistent with weak detectable trophic coupling at seasonal resolution. Distance from Danjiangkou Dam shaped downstream transparency and turbidity gradients that mediated trophic-level-specific responses along distinct environmental axes (pH and water temperature for phytoplankton, conductivity for zooplankton, and transparency for benthic macroinvertebrates). Benthic macroinvertebrates were systematically decoupled from the pelagic analytical framework, absent from the cross-trophic co-occurrence network and structured more by spatial configuration than by water-column variables. Hub species in the network were associated with downstream mineralized conditions, confirming that network architecture reflects shared environmental preferences rather than biotic interactions. These findings support a management shift from single-dam mitigation toward cascade-scale coordination of environmental flow regimes, sediment connectivity, and substrate restoration as integrated strategies for sustaining multi-trophic biodiversity in regulated rivers. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Taxonomy and Ecology of Zooplankton)

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15 pages, 6646 KB  

Open AccessArticle

Contrasting Fauna in Two Neighboring Territories of the African Horn: A Case of the Genus Moina Baird, 1850 (Cladocera: Moinidae)

by Dmitry D. Pereboev, Anna N. Neretina, Petr G. Garibian, Boris D. Efeykin, Idriss Okiye Waais and Alexey A. Kotov

Water 2025, 17(22), 3312; https://doi.org/10.3390/w17223312 - 19 Nov 2025

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Abstract

Representatives of the family Moinidae (Crustacea: Cladocera) are well-adapted to life in temporary waters. Different species are characteristic of the Arid Belt of Eurasia. We aimed to compare the moinid species composition and genetic diversity found in Djibouti (with extreme and uniform environments) [...] Read more.

Representatives of the family Moinidae (Crustacea: Cladocera) are well-adapted to life in temporary waters. Different species are characteristic of the Arid Belt of Eurasia. We aimed to compare the moinid species composition and genetic diversity found in Djibouti (with extreme and uniform environments) with neighboring Ethiopia (a relatively large country with diverse environmental conditions). Any cladocerans were found in only four localities in Djibouti from Ecoregion 527 (Western Red Sea Drainages) according to Abell et al. (2008). The moinids belonged to two taxa: M. cf. micrura and M. heilongjiangensis. In Ethiopia, moinids were found in 28 water bodies from four other Ecoregions (522, 525, 526 and 528). They belonged to M. micrura and M. belli. A genetic study based on full mitogenomes, sequences of the mitochondrial COI and nuclear ITS1 loci demonstrated that M. micrura from Djibouti and Ethiopia belong to distant lineages. Our genetic analysis revealed a very contrasting moinid fauna in two neighboring countries of the African Horn: there was no single haplotype, clade or even species sharing these territories. We have revealed unexpectedly small genetic distances between Chinese (type locality) and Djiboutian populations of M. heilongjiangensis; the question of the invasive status of the latter could therefore be raised. Moreover, the status of M. micrura populations from the Rift Valley also needs to be checked; they could be non-indigenous, as they belong to “European” M. micrura s. str. Finally, we have demonstrated that M. cf. micrura is not a monophyletic clade. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Taxonomy and Ecology of Zooplankton)

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16 pages, 3616 KB  

Open AccessArticle

Influence of Lunar Periodicity on Medusae (Cnidaria) Composition in a Western Caribbean Reef: Community Structure Before Sargassum Blooms

by Edgar Tovar-Juárez, Manuel Elías-Gutiérrez, Lourdes Segura-Puertas and María A. Mendoza-Becerril

Diversity 2025, 17(11), 769; https://doi.org/10.3390/d17110769 - 3 Nov 2025

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1145

Abstract

The medusae of the Mahahual reef, in the Mexican Caribbean Sea, were studied to document changes in species composition and abundance over a lunar cycle in 2001–2002. Plankton was sampled during two months of the dry and rainy seasons, in the fore reef, [...] Read more.

The medusae of the Mahahual reef, in the Mexican Caribbean Sea, were studied to document changes in species composition and abundance over a lunar cycle in 2001–2002. Plankton was sampled during two months of the dry and rainy seasons, in the fore reef, channel, and reef lagoon. Fifty-two species were collected. The highest abundance and species richness occurred during the rainy season. Their composition and abundance were similar in the fore reef and channel, but different in the reef lagoon. Abundance and biomass changed among seasons, reef zones and lunar phases; the highest abundance and the lowest biomass were recorded during the full moon. The fore reef and channel were dominated by Liriope tetraphylla and Aglaura hemistoma, the reef lagoon by Cubaia aphrodite and Slabberia halterata. Pennaria disticha and Bougainvillia frondosa were exclusive to the new moon and Pelagia noctiluca and Aequorea macrodactyla to the full moon. The results suggest that the medusae assemblage do not change species composition during the lunar cycle of either season, and abundance increases during full moon. The oceanic influence and tide currents explain the presence of oceanic species and the similarities between localities, but they do not explain the increase in abundance during the full moon. This study was conducted prior to the arrival of Sargassum influxes in this region and can serve as a reference point for assessing its effects in recent years. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Taxonomy and Ecology of Zooplankton)

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