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The specific growth rates of ciliates were measured in diffusion chambers after the first flooding of a reservoir. The abundance of nanoplankton and the high concentrations of dissolved organic matter could explain why the growth rate, whose average value was 0.07 ± 0.06 h -1 , was higher than that recorded in other lakes of similar trophic status. The abundance of ciliates was strongly controlled by Daphnia longispina and Asplanchna priodonta.

Temporal changes in the plankton community and trophic relations between the metazooplankton and its potential prey (bacteria, flagellates, ciliates and algae) were studied following the flooding of a new reservoir (Sep, France). The high dissolved organic matter (DOM) concentrations favoured the development of heterotrophic and mixotrophic organisms, which dominated the unicellular plankton after flooding. The proportion of strictly autotrophic organisms increased with time, reaching 67 % of the biomass of protistan plankton at the end of the study. A small-sized chrysomonade (2-5 μm) accounted for 53 % of the abundance of the heterotrophic nanoflagellates (HNF) throughout the study. The Chrysophyceae, Chrysidalis sp. accounted for 76 % of the mean relative abundance of all pigmented flagellates combined. Some mixotrophic species such as Dinobryon cylindricum and Cryptomonas ovata mainly occurred at the start of the study. The prostomatid ciliate Urotricha furcata, which dominated in terms of numbers immediately after flooding, was later replaced by mixotrophic species, an oligotrichid Pelagohalteria viridis then a peritrichid, Vorticella sp. The rotifers Polyarthra sp., Synchaeta sp. and Hexarthra mira were the first metazooplankton organisms to colonise the pelagic environment. They were replaced in the 3 rd year by Cladocera (Daphnia longispina and Ceriodaphnia quadrangula) and Copepoda, firstly calanoids (Eudiaptomus gracilis) and then cyclopoids (Cyclops vicinus and Acanthocyclops robustus). This study emphasizes the importance of the organisms of the microbial food web in the nutrition of the metazooplankton in the period following the flooding of a newly impounded reservoir.

The annual distribution of potential glutamine synthetase (GS) and glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) activities was studied in the oligo-mesotrophic Lake Pavin (France, Massif Central). The validity of these enzymatic activies as an index of N-assimilation in field studies was tested by a comparison with the coupling of distributions of inorganic nitrogen uptake rate based on 14 C incorporation into proteins together with several abiotic and biotic parameters. The potential GS and GDH activities recorded during the annual phytoplankton succession were in the same order of magnitude as those reported from the very scanty literature on this subject. Moreover, specific potential GS and GDH activities were significantly correlated with the external NO 3 - -N concentration suggesting that these enzymatic activities reflected nitrate utilization by algae. Specific activities of GDH were about 2.5 fold higher than GS specific activities suggesting that the GDH pathway may play a leading part in inorganic nitrogen assimilation in the oligo-mesotrophic Lake Pavin. However, N-assimilation rates based on the enzymatic approach were lower than those obtained through indirect isotopic determination of N-uptake rates. The reasons for such a discrepancy are discussed.