EN
The investigation was carried out during “dry” and “wet” (average: 478.6 mm and 624.7 mm, respectively) years in the Dobczyce Reservoir, which is located in a foothills area of southern Poland. The Reservoir covers 985 ha, has a volume of 108 × 10⁶ m³, a mean depth of 11 m and an average flushing rate of 2.9 yr⁻¹. Statistical analysis (ANOVA) showed that “dry” and “wet” years differed markedly as regards hydrological variables (water flow and flushing ratio). Among the physico-chemical variables, it was the concentration of NH₄-N that differed most in years of the different hydrological types. The main aim of the study was to check the life strategies and dynamics of selected species among the phyto- and zooplankton during the aforementioned “dry” and “wet” years. The assessment centered on changes in population densities for algal species of differing life strategies according to the Reynolds’ classification, particularly S-species (Microcystis aeruginosa (Kütz.) Kütz., Woronichinia naegeliana (Unger) Elenkin., R-species (Asterionella formosa Hass, Cyclotella sp.) and C/S-species (Ceratium hirundinella O. F. Müller) Bergh, Cryptomonas sp.). C species like Chlorella, Rhodomonas and Stephanodiscus hantzschii Grun. (in Cl. & Grunow), which were present in only small numbers, were not taken into consideration. No algal species presented any statistical differences in average population density between the studied years. Factors correlated (Pearson correlation) with the density of algae were found to be: flow, flushing ratio, transparency, turbidity and NO₃-N. Changes in the density of selected zooplankton species representing r-strategists (Bosmina longirostris (O. F. Müller, 1785), Brachionus angularis Gosse, 1851, Pompholyx sulcata Hudson, 1851) and K-strategists (Daphnia cucullata Sars, 1862, Daphnia longispina O. F. Müller, 1785, Eudiaptomus gracilis (Sars,1863) were also studied. The densities of Keratella cochlearis (Gosse, 1851) and Mesocylops leuckarti (Claus,1857) differed significantly between hydrological years. Physical environmental factors like flow, flushing ratio, transparency and turbidity were correlated with zooplankton density, as was shown by Pearson correlation coefficient. Our investigations did not confirm the hypothesis that R (phytoplankton) and r (zooplankton) species are favored by “wet” years, while species of types S (phytoplankton) and K (zooplankton) prefer the conditions present in “dry” years. Only the two zooplankton species characterized as different strategists (i.e. the r-selected Keratella cochlearis and K-selected Mesocyclops leuckarti) responded in significantly different ways to “wet” and “dry” years.