This organism plays a vital role in the future of lakes that are exposed to acid rain and deforestation and, therefore, have declining calcium levels. Holopedium is an acid tolerant species that has low Ca requirements and, therefore, can potentially replace the common grazer Daphnia in many of the thousands of lakes that are part of the Canadian Granitic Shield, altering permanently the structure of the food webs. We are working with researchers at York University, Ontario, to compare in a highly replicated experiment the competitive and environmental advantages of Holopedium in lakes suffering from decalcification and global warming.
