Crustacean Lacustrine Zooplankton Species Patterns along a Latitudinal Gradient in Continental Chile

Authors

  • Patricio R. De los Ríos-Escalante

    Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas y Químicas, Facultad de Recursos Naturales, Universidad Católica de Temuco, Temuco 4813302, Chile; Núcleo de Estudios Ambientales, Facultad de Recursos Naturales, Universidad Católica de Temuco, Temuco 4813302, Chile
  • Francisco Correa-Araneda

    Centro de Gestión y Tecnologías del Agua, Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Universidad de la Frontera, Temuco 4811230, Chile
  • Carlos Esse

    Instituto Iberoamericano de Desarrollo Sostenible (IIDS), Unidad de Cambio Climático y Medio Ambiente (UCCMA), Universidad Autónoma de Chile, Temuco 4810101, Chile
  • Mario Romero-Mieres

    Departamento de Ciencias Ambientales, Facultad de Recursos Naturales, Universidad Católica de Temuco, Temuco 4813302, Chile

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30564/re.v8i4.13164
Received: 13 February 2026 | Revised: 18 April 2026 | Accepted: 23 April 2026 | Published Online: 17 July 2026

Abstract

Crustacean zooplankton communities in Chilean inland waters are typically characterised by low species richness, potentially regulated by trophic status and conductivity. This study examined patterns of species richness along a broad latitudinal gradient (23–51° S), incorporating climatic variables and fish presence. The results indicated non significantly species richness in lakes with fish compared to fishless systems. Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) and redundancy analysis (RDA) revealed clear community structuring associated with climatic gradients, distinguishing semi-arid northern systems from temperate southern environments. Species richness was lowest in northern saline lakes and in oligotrophic Patagonian lakes with fish, whereas higher richness was observed in low-conductivity systems in southern Patagonia. Although fish presence was associated with reduced species richness, the underlying ecological mechanisms were not directly evaluated and should therefore be interpreted with caution. These findings highlight the importance of climatic and environmental gradients in structuring zooplankton communities in Chilean inland waters. Similar results were described for Andean lakes from Argentina, due to the similarities in climate and vegetational communities associated with their respective basins, due to geomorphological and geological similarities. Also, from a biogeographical viewpoint, these results are markedly different in comparison to northern hemisphere lakes, because in North American lakes, the predation fish effect affects zooplankton in pelagial environments, and there is a marked food web that involves piscivorous fishes that predate on zooplanktivorous fishes, whereas in Patagonian lakes, the fish predation effect can not be confirmed or rejected.

Keywords:

Species Richness; Zooplankton; Latitudinal Gradient; Climate Variations

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How to Cite

De los Ríos-Escalante, P. R., Correa-Araneda, F., Esse, C., & Romero-Mieres, M. (2026). Crustacean Lacustrine Zooplankton Species Patterns along a Latitudinal Gradient in Continental Chile. Research in Ecology, 8(4), 77–87. https://doi.org/10.30564/re.v8i4.13164

Issue

Vol.8, Iss.4 (August 2026): In Progress

Article Type

Article

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Copyright © 2026 Patricio R. De los Ríos-Escalante, Francisco Correa-Araneda, Carlos Esse, Mario Romero-Mieres

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This is an open access article under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) License.

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