Body lengths and maximum gut food-particle sizes of the dominant cladocerans and calanoid copepods in Wallerawang Reservoir, New South Wales

Abstract

Body length influences the maximum gut food-particle size of the dominant cladocerans and calanoid copepods in Wallerawang Reservoir. For the Wallerawang cladocerans, a linear regression equation, similar to the Northern Hemisphere equivalent, relates food-particle and body sizes. The larger cladoceran species ingest larger food particles than do the smaller species they displace, thus seemingly supporting the size-efficiency hypothesis. On the other hand, the competitive ability of the Wallerawang calanoid copepods cannot be explained simply by the observed differences in the upper food-particle size limit of these species.