Freshwater zooplankton behavior under temperature effects in a semi-arid Mediterranean area

Abstract

Four consecutive years study of the correlation between zooplankton of Sidi Mohammed Benali Lake two kilometers north of Sidi Bel Abbes northwestern Algeria in a pure Mediterranean climatic area and the temperature showed an inverse parabolic correspondence. Also, linear regression trend possesses a negative slope which symbolizes also an inverse proportionality. This study illustrated then that as the temperature remains below an annual average one, zooplankton quotas were quite substantial but once it grown above this frontier, which appears to be a significant barrier, these populations diminished and declined very quickly. Our results thus corroborate those found in the scientific literature and show, if needed, that freshwater zooplankton populations are also subject to temperature variations as marine zooplanktons do and that these variations are of the same kind and trend. Global warming could then be very disastrous to aquatic life and augurs a catastrophic scenario to the whole of the life’s chain all over our planet.