Cascading Effects of Decreased Salinity on the Plankton Chemistry, and Physics of the Great Salt Lake (Utah)

Physical, chemical and biological variables were measured in the Great Salt Lake during 1985–87, when salinity in the mixolimnion was near 50 g/L, much lower than the 250 g/L maxima recorded in 1963. Decreased salinity has been accompanied by a change in macrozooplankton from one species (Artemia franciscana), to an assemblage with one rotifer, two copepods, Artemia, and the corixid Trichocorixa verticalis. Predation by the corixid may now limit...