Ecological requirements of Ostracoda (Crustacea) in a heavily polluted shallow lake, Lake Yeniçağa (Bolu, Turkey)

Abstract

Although the area of Lake Yenicaga is a potential candidate for RAMSAR convention, several anthropogenic factors compromise its biological diversity. This is mostly due to nutrient- rich water released from both point and nonpoint sources. Thirteen ostracod taxa (Candona neglecta, C. candida, Ilyocypris bradyi, Darwinula stevensoni, Cypridopsis vidua, Physocypria kraepelini, Cypria ophtalmica, Prionocypris zenkeri, Eucypris virens, Herpetocypris reptans, Pseudocandona compressa, Fabaeformiscandona fabaeformis Potamocypris cf. fulva) were found during this study. Potamocypris cf. fulva is a new record for the Turkish freshwater ostracod fauna. The first nine of these species have broad geographic ranges, implying high tolerance levels to different environmental variables. Based on the estimated species optima and tolerance levels, two species exhibited higher effective number of occurrences (C. neglecta, and D. stevensoni, respectively) than the other species. Three species (C. neglecta, D. stevensoni, I. bradyi) did not show significant correlation with any environmental variable we used. Both Canonical correspondence (CCA) and Pearson correlation analyses showed that temperature was the most effective predictor of species occurrence, followed by electrical conductivity and redox potential. In contrast, pH and dissolved oxygen of water were the least effective predictors. Approximately 71% of the correlation between community composition and environmental variables was explained by the first axis of the CCA diagram, which had a relatively low (7.7%) cumulative variance of species. The lower (560 µg/l) and the upper (2030 µg/l) levels of ammonia (NH3) exceeded the limits during winter season. The concentrations of total coliform and Escherichia coli bacteria were measured up to 10 × 107 cfu/ml and 10 × 103 cfu/ml, respectively. Results of physicochemical measurements, microbiological counts, and species data indicate that water quality of Lake Yenicaga has been rapidly deteriorated by anthropogenic factors that are the main threat for not only the lake’s aquatic diversity but also human health around the lake.