Zoobenthos and zooplankton of the foothill lakes of Subpolar Urals
O.A. Loskutova, O.N. Kononova
Section: Monitoring of natural and anthropogenically disturbed areas
The article presents data on composition, structure and quantitative parameters of aquatic invertebrates from four small foothill lakes at the Subpolar Urals. The lakes are located in the “Yugyd va” national park in remote swampy areas. 55 zooplankton taxa were revealed: Rotifera 22, Cladocera 22 and Copepoda 11. All species are common species of plankton animals of the Russian European Northeast. In each lake, 28-34 taxa were registered with the prevalence of cladocerans. Quantitative parameters of zooplankton varied significantly, averaging 70.6-143.9 thousand ind.-m3 and 0.5–16.4 g-m3 in deep lakes and 23.7 thousand ind.-m3 and 0.4 g-m3 – in shallow lakes. The prevalence of crustacean plankton against rotifer plankton both in species composition and quantitatively distinguishes these lakes from the majority of those surveyed in this area. Species diversity and quantitative parameters of benthic invertebrates’ assemblages are poor in the most lakes under study. Zoobenthos includes 23 taxonomic groups of hydrobionts. In each lake, we found from 13 to 21 groups of benthos. The highest taxonomic diversity was found in a shallow flowing lake. During late June – early July, the abundance of zoobenthos ranged from 1.4 to 5.2 thousand ind.-m2, and was significantly higher in August (43.6 thousand ind.-m2) due to the occurrence of juvenile insects. The most abundant groups are chironomids, oligochaetes, amphipods and nematodes. Biomass ranged from 2.2 to 5.5 g-m2, and mainly included chironomids, oligochaetes, amphipods and leeches. Silty grounds were characterized by highest density. Benthic biomass was maximal in the gravel habitats. A feature of the bottom population of the studied lakes is the habitation of dragonfly larvae. Zooplankton and zoobenthos of the studied lakes are distinguished from water bodies located in the Maliy Patok river basin, located upstream the Schugor River, by higher species richness and quantitative parameters.
Keywords: western slopes of the Urals, aquatic ecosystems, lakes, fauna, invertebrates
Article published in number 2 for 2022 DOI: 10.25750/1995-4301-2022-2-056-062
ISSN 1995-4301
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