Life cycle strategies of free-living copepods in fresh waters

Freshwater copepods live in habitats characterized by a high degree of instability. To survive occasional deterioration of their environment copepods have evolved adaptive mechanisms like dormancy or migration in order to avoid lethal conditions and to synchronize growth and reproduction with favourable abiotic and biotic conditions. Typical life cycles of harpacticoid, calanoid and cyclopoid copepods are presented to show strategies that have evolved to survive threatening environmental conditions.