EN
Organisms living in submerged sand along the shore and below the water’s edge in freshwater lake beaches create community called hydropsammon (see Fig. 1 in Preface). Trophic relations between psammon food web components are essential in energy flow, nutrient cycling and functioning of aquatic environments. The seasonal changes in algal, bacterial, nanoflagellate, ciliate, rotifer and crustacean biomass were investigated in hydroarenal (submerged sand) of the eutrophic Lake Mikołajskie (Poland). Sampling cores were taken once or twice a month since April till October 2005 from three layers: adjacent water layer (AWL), layer of water and sand from the transitory level (EPIH – epihydroarenal) and slice of sand (ENDOH – endohydroarenal). The meanannual phytopsammon biomass was extremely high in all microlayers. Bacterial biomass was the highest in the ENDOH. Biomass of nanoflagellates was 4 to 8 times lower than that of bacteria and was the highest in the AWL. The highest mean annual biomass of ciliates was recorded in the EPIH, whereas rotifers dominated in the ENDOH. In contrast, average biomass of Crustacea was the highest in the AWL. Crustaceans dominated heterotrophic biomass in the AWL and EPIH (92 and 54% of the total biomass, respectively) whereas bacteria definitely prevailed in the ENDOH (57%). The ratios of autotrophic to heterotrophic biomass and prey to predator biomass as well as trophic relations between the studied groups of psammon organisms differed clearly among microlayers. The AWL was characterised by the lowest autotrophic/heterotrophic and predator/prey biomass ratios (about 2) and significant positive correlations between nanoflagellates and ciliates as well as between protists and both rotifers and copepods. The highest autotrophic/heterotrophic and predator/prey biomass ratio (14 and 40, respectively) and lack of correlations was found in the ENDOH. These results may suggest that the pressure of consumers was weaker in the hydroarenal layers than in the AWL. In addition, it seems that psammon ciliates, rotifers and crustaceans inhabiting the ENDOH were probably limited by factors other than food availability. In contrast to the pelagic ecosystems, autotrophic biomass exceeded heterotrophic biomass, especially in the ENDOH.