The majority of research into cladoceran zooplankton feeding ecology and mechanics has been with large taxa such as Daphnia. In many lakes, however, the zooplankton are often dominated by smaller non-daphniid taxa which may or may not use feeding strategies similar to those of daphniids. In this research, I wish to build upon the solid ecological and evolutionary foundation formed by daphniid research, by exploring with non-daphniid zooplankton recent hypotheses pertaining to how species respond to variable environments.

Objectives are two-fold: 1) to determine the role of variable food availability in the organization of small-bodied zooplankton assemblages, and 2) to determine whether a small-bodied cladoceran assemblages can adapt phenotypically to a variable food environment.

My approach is focused on laboratory-oriented analyses of physical and behavioral aspects of feeding mechanics in daphniid and non-daphniid zooplankton species, coupled with field-oriented analyses of seasonal patterns in species abundances, food concentrations, filtering appendage morphologies, and feeding behaviors. Currently, I am exploring the use of high-speed video (HSV) in analyzing a suite of cladoceran feeding mechanics and behaviors.