Ecological patterns of the rotifer communities in the Kaw River estuary (French Guiana)

A study of the rotifer fauna in the Kaw River estuary revealed significant quantitative and qualitative variations as a function of precipitation pattern and resulting hydrology and hydrochemistry. The rainy season (flood period) was characterized by the presence of about one hundred rotifer species of the periphytic continental type, each present at a very low average density (8 to 10 ind l−1). Rotifers generally constituted the majority of the zooplankton (above 70%). The dry season (low water period) was characterized by a small number (four) of species of the ‘marine coastal’ plankton type, showed the highest density peaks (>500 ind l−1). While the fluvial hydrodynamics during the rainy season contributed to a complete mixing of populations across the estuarine zone, the oceanic hydrodynamics during the dry season led to great population instability at the station level. At an annual scale, this estuarine zone is thus an essentially open environment that lacks a clearly-structured rotifer population, and which therefore most likely does not constitute a distinct, internally-functioning ecosystem.