Limnomysis benedeni ingestion rate in different prey

Understanding the diet preferences and food selection of invasive species is crucial to better predict their impact on community structure and ecosystem functioning. Limnomysis benedeni, a Ponto-Caspian invasive mysid shrimp, is one of the most successful invaders in numerous European river and lake ecosystems. While existing studies suggest potentially strong trophic impact due to high predation pressure on native plankton communities, little is known of its food selectivity between phyto- and zooplankton, under different food concentrations. Here, we therefore investigated the feeding selectivity of L. benedeni on two commonly occurring prey organisms in freshwaters, the small rotifer zooplankton Brachionus calyciflorus together with the microphytoplankton Cryptomonas sp. present in increasing densities. Our results demonstrated a clear shift in food selection, with L. benedeni switching from B. calyciflorus to Cryptomonas sp. already when the two prey species were provided in equal b..., , , # *Limnomysis benedeni* ingestion rate in different prey

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.ht76hdrng](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.ht76hdrng)

The experiment was conducted at *21*°C temperature for a total duration of 14 hours in lab conditions using two different prey types and *Limnomysis benedeni* as predator. The aim of the study was to yield a better understanding of the impact of phytoplankton and zooplankton density on the diet preference of *L. benedeni.* To do this, we compared the ingestion rates of *L. benedeni* on food mixtures containing a rotifer and a microalga, across increasing algal biomass.

The dataset has the algae number, rotifer number and the calculations for the ingestion rate of these prey types by *Limnomysis benedeni*.

## Description of the data and file structure

No abbreviations have been used in the dataset.
Columns A to AO are related to ingestion rate calculations and columns AQ to AW are related to Ivlev's selectivity coefficient.