Macro zoobenthos of lake uluabat, turkey, related to some physical and chemical parameters

Abstract

Lake Uluabat, Bursa, Turkey, was sampled monthly between December 2001 and November 2002 at four stations for the purpose of evaluating the spatial and seasonal variations in the diversity and abundance of benthic macroinvertebrates in relation to the dynamics of water temperature, conductivity, water transparency, pH, dissolved oxygen, phosphate, nitrate and chlorophyll-a concentrations. A total of 24 taxa and 9281 individuals were identified. Insecta and oligochaete were the most abundant groups in the lake. Benthic macroinvertebrates of Lake Uluabat were dominated by species characteristic to nutrient rich waters, including Pristina aequiseta Bourne, 1891, Nais communis Piguet, 1906, Tubifex tubifex Mueller, 1774, Limnodrilus hoffmeisteri Claparede, 1862, Potamothrix hammoniensis Michaelsen, 1901 and Tanypus punctipennis Meigen, 1818. Most of the variance (63.5%) in relationships between species and environmental variables were explained by the first two axes of a canonical correspondence analysis (CCA). CCA placed most Oligochaete and Chironomidae near the vectors of high nutrients and chlorophyll-a concentrations, while the sensitive Crustacea and some Oligochaete (Lumbricidae) species were placed on sectors of the plot with the smallest weight of those variables.