Which biological communities support the functioning of the lake ecosystem?

Lake Bagno dell'Acqua is an alkaline lake with a pH of 9, known as alcalitrophic for the large amount of dissolved CO2, essential for the production of new living matter thanks to the photosynthetic activity of cyanobacteria, but highly toxic to all animals. This production feeds a food chain that includes calanoid and cladoceran crustaceans, such as Arctodiaptomus salinus and Moina salina, highly efficient planktonic filters intensely colored red due to the presence of microorganisms that produce these pigments.

Freely swimming invertebrates, particularly insects such as aquatic Heteroptera and Dytiscidae beetles, constitute the next level of the food chain and prey on the planktonic forms present.