Philippine Journal of Science
151 (1): 281-290, February 2022
ISSN 0031 – 7683
Date Received: 02 Aug 2021

Philippine Seven Tropical Maar Lakes
are Ideal Habitats for the Invasive
Arctodiaptomus dorsalis Marsh, 1907
(Copepoda: Calanoida)

Justine R. de Leon1*, Dino T. Tordesillas1,2, Irian J.L. Biag3, Sean H.L. Cusi3,
John A.B. Tan3, Edna Marie Mijares1, Jaydan I. Aguilar1,
and Rey Donne S. Papa1,3,4

1The Graduate School; 2Senior High School
3Department of Biological Sciences, College of Science
4Research Center for the Natural and Applied Sciences
University of Santo Tomas, Manila 1015 Philippines

*Corresponding author: justine.deleon.gs@ust.edu.ph

 

de Leon J et al. 2022. Philippine Seven Tropical Maar Lakes are Ideal Habitats for the Invasive Arctodiaptomus
dorsalis Marsh, 1907 (Copepoda: Calanoida). Philipp J Sci 151(1): 281–290. https://doi.org/10.56899/151.01.21

 

ABSTRACT

The presence of the invasive calanoid copepod Arctodiaptomus dorsalis in Philippine inland waters has been reported in numerous studies. Attempts to understand how it effectively proliferated in the country’s freshwaters have shown its preference towards shallow and productive waters – a feature shared by most lakes in the Philippines. In this study, we compared the body size and reproductive capacity – proxied by clutch size (CS) – of ovigerous female A. dorsalis obtained from established populations in the seven maar lakes (SML) of San Pablo, Laguna, Philippines. These measurements were also correlated with selected water quality parameters. Collection of ovigerous A. dorsalis and water quality parameters were conducted on a 3-mo sampling period during the southwest monsoon season in 2016. Statistical analysis shows that there exists a significant difference between the prosome length (PL) and CS of A. dorsalis from the seven lakes (p < 0.001), with the shallowest and most productive lake containing the most fecund population. Additionally, all water quality parameters showed a positive correlation with the PL and CS of ovigerous A. dorsalis from the SML (p < 0.01). This shows that the SML provides favorable conditions for the propagation of A. dorsalis, making it a model for in situ investigation of this invasive species’ ecology; the first step in incorporating zooplankton ecology as a tool for the development of lake management systems.