There is still a fundamental gap in our knowledge regarding the dormant egg bank in the littoral zone, as much of the existing information stems from studies conducted in the pelagic zone. We investigated cladoceran egg banks attached to macrophyte roots (Eichhornia azurea) and the soil surface collected from the littoral site of four Brazilian lakes. We test the hypothesis that sediment supports egg bank communities that are taxonomically distinct from those in macrophyte roots. We took replicate samples from paired examples of each egg bank and later incubated the diapausing eggs in a hatching experiment. Another aspect of our study involved classifying the egg bank community based on the traditional separation of cladocerans according to their microhabitat (pelagic vs. phytophilous). Results from the study indicated that the number of individuals and taxon richness was higher in the sediment egg banks than in those from the macrophyte roots in two of the lakes studied. The proportions of pelagic and phytophilous hatched varied between sediment and macrophyte roots egg banks within each lake studied. These findings partially supported our hypothesis that sediment contains taxonomically distinct egg bank communities compared to those in macrophyte roots. Our results suggest that the littoral zone, particularly the sediment habitat, may serve as a substrate for a persistent dormant egg bank of some pelagic cladocerans. Further comparative research among different macrophyte species and littoral sediments can help to gain more insights into cladoceran ecology and restoration programs for lakes experiencing environmental impacts.

我们对沿海地区休眠卵库的了解仍然存在根本差距，因为现有信息大部分来自于远洋地区进行的研究。我们调查了附着在大型植物根（ Eichhornia azurea ）上的枝角类卵库以及从巴西四个湖泊沿岸收集的土壤表面。我们检验了这样的假设：沉积物支持的卵库群落在分类学上与大型植物根部的群落不同。我们从每个蛋库的配对样本中采集了重复样本，然后在孵化实验中孵化滞育蛋。我们研究的另一个方面涉及根据枝角动物的微生境（远洋与植物）对卵库群落进行分类。研究结果表明，在所研究的两个湖泊中，沉积物卵库中的个体数量和分类群丰富度高于大型植物根部的个体数量和分类群丰富度。在所研究的每个湖泊的沉积物和大型植物根卵库中，中上层和植物孵化的比例有所不同。这些发现部分支持了我们的假设，即沉积物中含有与大型植物根中的卵库群落在分类学上不同的群落。我们的结果表明，沿海地区，特别是沉积物栖息地，可能是一些远洋枝角类动物持久休眠卵库的基质。不同大型植物物种和滨海沉积物之间的进一步比较研究有助于更深入地了解枝角类生态和遭受环境影响的湖泊的恢复计划。