Biodiversity of rotifers in urban water reservoirs of Southern Poland

Abstract

Abstract Rotifer diversity was studied in three different types of artificial water bodies situated in one of the largest cities in Poland. The bodies of water were as follows: a fountain in a city park, the Nowa Huta dam reservoir, and the Bagry gravelpit. The lowest number of rotifer species (23) was noted in the urban fountain, and the highest (36) in the Bagry gravel-pit lake. Rotifers’ communities in the investigated water reservoirs showed different levels of diversity and density. The most numerous species in the dam reservoir was Trichocerca similis (2511 ind. l-1) and in the Bagry gravel-pit lake was Polyarthra dolichoptera (2634 ind. l-1). However, the most abundant species in the fountain was Brachionus urceolaris (863 ind. l-1). The highest values of Shannon and evenness diversity indices were found in the Bagry gravel-pit lake (H’ = 2.521, J’ = 0.783), while the lowest in the urban fountain (H’ = 0.568, J’ = 0.258). The DCA analysis (Detrended Correspondence Analysis) showed that the diversity of rotifers communities in the studied reservoirs was related to the concentration of magnesium and calcium, and to water conductivity.