A preliminary investigation of zooplankton diapausing eggs from waterbird faecal droppings in New Zealand

Figures & data

Figure 1. Site locations where bird faecal samples were collected from Lake Rotoroa and Lake Rotorua and the respective positions of both lakes in the North Island.

Table 1. Abundances and frequency of diapausing eggs from 67 faecal samples collected from waterbirds around Lake Rotorua (Greylag Goose, Black Swan and Australian Coot) and Lake Rotoroa (Mallard Duck and Canada Goose).

Waterbird species	Lake Rotorua			Lake Rotoroa
	Anser anser Greylag Goose	Cygnus atatus Black Swan	Fulica atra Australian Coot	Anas platyrhynchos Mallard Duck	Branta canadensis Canada Goose
Droppings examined	6	20	10	20	11
Mean dropping weight (g)	18.7	13.1	11.7	9.3	15.3
Droppings containing eggs	2	6	1	4	2
Frequency of birds with eggs (%)	33	30	10	20	18
Average number of eggs per bird	1.00	1.43	0.80	0.40	0.18
Total diapausing eggs found	6	26	8	8	2
Average egg count per gram	0.05	0.11	0.07	0.04	0.01