Zooplankton

Healthy aquatic ecosystems possess the remarkable capacity for self-regulation, which can also be considered a form of self-cleaning. For lakes, as well as biological pools, this means that nutrients and harmful substances introduced into the water are transformed by physical, chemical, and biological processes, so that their negative impact on the ecosystem is reduced.

Zooplankton plays a central role in these water purification processes. Zooplankton comprises all the organisms of animals that float in the water column. In freshwater, this especially includes protozoa (such as flagellates, amoebas, and ciliates), as well as multicellular rotifers and small crustaceans (water fleas and copepods).

These organisms frequently feed on microalgae and bacteria, thus contributing to the clarification and sanitization of the water body. In biological pools, zooplankton plays an essential role in purification, and its well-being depends heavily on the healthy development of submerged plants because they produce what zooplankton needs in abundance to establish effective populations for this task: oxygen.