Macrozoobenthos of Lake Peipsi-Pihkva: taxonomical composition, abundance, biomass, and their relations to some ecological parameters

Abstract

The large but shallow (3,558 km2, up to 15.3 m deep) lake is eutrophic, with Chironomus plumosus and Potamothrix hammoniensis as dominating macroinvertebrates in the profundal. The extensive well-aerated sublittoral with sandy bottom sediments has a mesotrophic appearance and supports a diverse fauna with several oxyphilous species, including a very abundant population of Dreissena polymorpha. The phytophilous fauna is limited to small sheltered areas only. The average abundance of the “small” animals of macrozoobenthos (without big molluscs) was 2,617 ind. m−2, their biomass 12.34 g m−2 (corresponding to 52.2 kJ m−2) in 1964–1994. The same figures for big molluscs (mostly Dreissena) were 304 ind. m−2 and 238 g m−2 in 1964–1994, and even 864 ind. m−2 and 687 g m−2 in 1985–1988, at the time of their special mapping. The sublittoral zone revealed the lowest biomass of “small” animals but the highest biomass of big molluscs. The southern, shallower lake regions, more enriched with nutrients and better protected from wind, revealed a significantly higher biomass of “small” macrozoobenthos in the near-shore zone than the cleaner and open northern part, while no positive effect of enrichment was observed neither in the biomass of profundal zoobenthos nor in that of big molluscs. The production of the “small” macrozoobenthos was calculated as 111 and 53 kJ m−2 during two annual cycles in Lake Peipsi s. s., the most productive period being the autumn overturn. Lake Peipsi-Pihkva has the highest abundance and biomass of macrozoobenthos among the large lakes of North Europe.