Journal of Tropical Fisheries (2010) 5(1): 460 462

S. Gumiri and T. Iwakuma : Ecological Studies on ..

HASIL PENELITIAN

Ecological Studies on Zooplankton Communities in Humic Oxbow Lakes of

Kalimantan, Indonesia
Studi Ekologi Komunitas Zooplankton di Danau-Danau Oxbow Humik
di Kalimantan, Indonesia
Sulmin Gumiri1 and Toshio Iwakuma2
1

Dept. of Aquatic Resources Management, Faculty of Agriculture, Univ. of Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan Indonesia (sulmingumiri@yahoo.com)
2
Hakodate National College of Technology - Japan
(Diterima/Received : 4 April 2010, Disetujui/Accepted: 6 Juni 2010)
ABSTRACT

Ecological studies on zooplankton communities were carried out at two humic oxbow lakes: Lake Sabuah and Lake Tundai
of Kalimantan, Indonesia between the period from May 1999 until October 2000.
The results of these studies revealed that due to their difference in hydrological connectivity to the main river, both studied
lakes exhibited different patterns of dynamics of physico-chemical conditions. Zooplankton communities in both lakes
exhibited similar patterns of seasonal dynamics of density and biomass, but differed remarkably in terms of vertical
distribution and community composition. The nature of fish predation was the likely factor in inducing the changes in the
zooplankton community from rotifers dominance during high water level to the dominance of cladocerans and adult
copepods during low water level period in Lake Tundai, whereas the scarcity of larger sized zooplankters at all times in
Lake Sabuah seemed to be induced by a continuous predation by fishes upon larger-sized zooplankton due to the scarcity of
alternative diet for fishes i.e. chironomid larvae in this lake.
Keywords: Zooplankton, Humic oxbow lakes, Indonesia

ABSTRAK
Studi ekologi komunitas zooplankton dilaksanakan di dua danau oxbow: Danau Sabuah dan Danau Tundai di Kalimantan,
Indonesia pada periode sejak bulan Mei 2009 sampai bulan Oktober 2000.
Hasil studi ini menunjukkan bahwa, karena perbedaan ketersambungan hidrologi dengan sungai utama, kedua danau
mengalami perbedaan dinamika kondisi fisik-kimia. Komunitas zooplankton di kedua danau menunjukkan kesamaan pola
dinamika kepadatan dan biomasa musiman, tetapi sangat berbeda sekali dalam hal distribusi vertical dan komposisi
komunitas. Pola pemangsaan ikan diperkirakan menjadi faktor yang mempengaruhi dominasi calodera dan copepod
dewasa pada musim air surut di Danau Tundai, sedangkan langkanya zooplankton berukuran besar di Danau Sabuah
sepertinya dipengaruhi oleh predasi ikan yang terus menerus terhadap zooplankton berukuran besar karena ketiadaan
sumber makanan alternatif, misalnya larva chironomidae, di danau Sabuah.

Kata kunci: Zooplankton, danau oxbow humik, Indonesia

INTRODUCTION
Indonesia posses one of the largest fraction of the
worlds species richness in terms of terrestrial
vertebrates, butterflies, higher plants, freshwater fish
and so on. The total annual production of freshwater
fishes from Kalimantan can be very high. Between
20,000 and 35,000 tonnes of freshwater fishes are being
landed yearly only from the Mahakam River and
adjacent lakes since the early 1970s, in which 6,000-

ISSN: 1907-736X

9,000 tonnes of dried freshwater fishes are being

exported annually from East Kalimantan (MacKinnon
et al. 1996).
In common with temperate lakes, tropical
lacustrine zooplankton have been presumed to play an
important role in supporting high fish yield since they
comprise major diet of tropical freshwater fishes
especially for newly hatched fishes (Fernando 1994).
Since studies on tropical zooplankton have just been
started in quite recently (Dussart et al. 1984), most of

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Journal of Tropical Fisheries (2010) 5(1): 460 462

S. Gumiri and T. Iwakuma : Ecological Studies on ..

our present knowledge on zooplankton ecology is

derived from the results of long-term and extensive
studies in various freshwater bodies mainly carried out
in north temperate region.
The main objective of the present study was to
investigate the dynamics of zooplankton communities
in two humic tropical oxbow lake ecosystems with
different hydrological features.

The last series was carried out at both lakes over

one year period, to investigate the seasonality of
zooplankton abundance and biomass, as well as to
observe the changes in zooplankton community
composition over one year period. For this purpose,
zooplankton were sampled and related environmental
parameters were observed monthly at the center of each
lake.
RESULTS

STUDI SITES AND METHODS

The present study was carried out at two oxbow lakes
along the Kahayan River at Central Kalimantan,
Indonesia (Fig. 1).

We conducted field sampling four series. The first

series dealt mainly with the characterization of the
study sites. For this purpose, water levels were
observed at the shore near the center of both lakes,
whereas physico-chemical parameters were measured
for both lakes, main river and stream that connected to
each lake.
The second series dealt with the diel pattern of
zooplankton vertical distribution. During this series,
zooplankton and related environmental parameters were
observed at the center of both lakes at every 3 h.
The third series was conducted to characterize the
temporal population dynamics of zooplankton
community in order to find out possible linkages
between temporal changes of zooplankton density and
food availability as well as predation pressure on
zooplankton. For this purpose, zooplankton and related
environmental parameters were observed at the station
near inlet and the center of the lake at every 3 days.

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The results of this study revealed that due to their

difference in hydrological connectivity to the main
river, both studied lakes exhibited different patterns of
dynamics of physico-chemical conditions. Lake Sabuah
was characterized by strong stratifications of water
temperature and dissolved oxygen and low
concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC),
whereas Lake Tundai was characterized by high pH
values and low concentration of DOC during high water
level period, and very low pH values and high DOC
concentrations during low water level season.
Throughout the year, water temperature and dissolved
oxygen penetrated down to the bottom of Lake Tundai.
Zooplankton in both lakes exhibited pronounced
seasonal fluctuations of density and biomass throughout
the year. Low zooplankton densities were observed
during December 1999 to mid-May 2000 and then
increased considerably until the maximum values of 9
105 individuals/m2 was attained in October (Lake
Sabuah) or 3 106 individuals/m2 in September (Lake
Tundai). The fluctuation was nine-fold in density or
two-fold in biomass for Lake Sabuah, whereas it was
thirty-fold in density or twelve-fold in biomass for Lake
Tundai (Fig 2).

Fig 2. Seasonal changes of total zooplankton density (a)

biomass (b) integrated for an entire water column of
Lake Sabuah (left) and Lake Tundai (right) during
November 1999-October 2000.

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ISSN: 1907-736X

Journal of Tropical Fisheries (2010) 5(1): 460 462

S. Gumiri and T. Iwakuma : Ecological Studies on ..

Both lakes differed remarkably in terms of

community composition. In Lake Sabuah, rotifers
became predominant during September-October 2000
whereas in lake Tundai, they were predominant during
November 1999-March 2000 and May-August 2000.
Juvenile copepods showed reverse seasonal trend of
that in the contribution to the total density and biomass
of zooplankton. In Lake Tundai, cladocerans
contributed considerably to the total density of
zooplankton (8%-55%) or to total biomass of
zooplankton (11%-41%) during July-September 2000
(Fig. 3)

patterns of zooplankton density and biomass. in both

lakes. The nature of fish predation was the likely factor
in inducing the changes in the zooplankton community
from rotifers dominance during high water level to the
dominance of cladocerans and adult copepods during
low water level period in Lake Tundai, whereas the
scarcity of larger sized zooplankters at all times in Lake
Sabuah seemed to be induced by a continuous predation
by fishes upon larger-sized zooplankton due to the
scarcity of alternative diet for fishes i.e. chironomid
larvae in this lake.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We would like to express our sincere thanks to Dr.
Masaaki Kurasaki of Graduate School Environmental
Earth Science-Hokkaido University for his kind helps
and supports during our laboratory works. We would
like to thank also to Dr. Russell Shiel of Adeleide
University, Australia and Dr. Teruo Ishida in Hokkaido,
Japan for their valuable discussions, commentsand
helps in identifying rotiferan and copepod species,
respectively.

REFERENCES

Fig 3. Seasonal changes of the proportion of

zooplankton density (a) and biomass (b) in Lake
Sabuah (left) and Lake Tundai (right) during
November 1999-October 2000.
The alternation of wet and dry seasons seemed to
be the major external determinant for the seasonal

Dussart, B.H., Fernando, C.H., Tundisi, T.M. and Shiel,

R.J. (1984): A review of systematics, distribution
and ecology of tropical freshwater zooplankton.
Hydrobiologia, 113: 77-91.
Fernando, C.H. (1994): Zooplankton, fish and fisheries
in tropical freshwaters. Hydrobiologia, 272: 105123.
Mackinnon, K., Hatta, G., Halim, H. and Mangalik, A.
(1996): The ecology of Kalimantan. Periplus
Editions, Singapore.

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