Exchanges of copepod fauna between surface- and ground-water in the Rocky Glades of Everglades National Park (Florida, USA)

We studied species composition and individual abundance of copepods in the surficial aquifer in short-hydroperiod habitats of Everglades National Park by collecting copepods from different depths at selected wells for two consecutive years. Subsurface copepod communities were dominated by surface copepods that colonized ground-water mainly at the beginning and at the end of the wet season, when ground-water levels dropped about 60 cm below ground level. Copepods entered ground-water, but decreases in community similarity with increasing distance between wells suggest that they did not disperse far from the input location. The five most abundant species were stygoxenes: Osphranticum labronectum, Arctodiaptomus floridanus, Orthocyclops modestus, Thermocyclops parvus, and Macrocyclops albidus. Two stygophiles were collected: Diacyclops nearcticus was abundant, whereas Elaphoidella marjoryae was rare. Elaphoidella fluviusherbae, and perhaps a Parastenocaris sp., were the only stygobites collected.