Do Reproductive Modes and Swimming Ability Influence Occurrence of Non-Marine Ostracod (Crustacea) Species among Aquatic Habitats?

To gain a better understanding of the effect of reproductive modes and swimming ability on ostracod distribution, we visited 111 randomly selected aquatic sites in Kirsehir province. A total of 35 ostracods were newly reported for the area. The number of species with and without swimming setae was not statistically different, but numbers of sexual species was significantly lower than parthenogenetics. Species without setae did not show a significant difference between sexual and parthenogenetic forms. Numbers of species with (out) setae were not significant among different elevational ranges. Distribution of parthenogenetic species was common in all 11 habitat types when sexual species were only found from three different types located from 690 to ca. 1400 m of elevational ranges. Numbers of parthenogenetic species with or without setae did not show a difference among the ranges, but sexual species without setae exhibited wider distributional ranges (690-1289 m) than species with swimming setae (690-1089 m). Species' co-occurrence revealed two positive, five negative, and 44 random pairs of co-occurrences. Wards cluster analyses portrayed three main clustering groups. While group I includes parthenogenetic and sexual species, group II covers mostly parthenogenetic species with and without setae. Group III consists of species without setae. CCA results displayed three environmental variables (water temperature, pH and elevation) effective on species distribution. Species distributed in all elevational ranges tend to show lower optimum and wider ecological tolerances. Parthenogenetic species with swimming setae and with relatively higher tolerance ranges were dominant over sexual species. The present results suggest that swimming mode has a greater effect on species distribution among the habitats than reproductive modes.

Relationships among epipelic diatom taxa, bacterial abundances and water quality in a highly polluted stream catchment, bursa -- Turkey.

Nilüfer Stream is an important water source in the industrial and metropolitan city of Bursa, Turkey. The stream catchment has been influenced by high human impact. The downstream receives sewage water from households and industry, whereas the headwater of the stream has a source of high-quality drinkable water. In this paper, abundances of epipelic diatom taxa, faecal coliforms (FC), total coliforms (TC) and total bacteria (TB) were studied in relation to measured environmental variables (T, pH, DO, BOD(5), EC, TDS) for the period July 1997 to June 1998 at six stations in the heavily polluted Nilüfer Stream catchment. It is observed that the physicochemical variables and bacterial abundances varied seasonally at all stations, and the level of pollution reached at its highest point in the summer. The results of Kruskal-Wallis and one-way ANOVA indicated that DO gradually decreased, whereas BOD(5), EC, TDS, TB, FC and TC gradually increased from upstream to downstream. The ordination method of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was carried out for both biologic and physicochemical variables, and the results were supported by the former statistical procedures. The frequency of occurrence of dominant diatoms was examined in relation to the spatial variations in chemical constituents. Both diatoms and bacteria showed strong correlations with the measured physicochemical variables. In Canonical Correlation Analysis (CANCORR) measures of bacterial abundances also displayed strong correlations with abundances of 11 diatom taxa. The results showed that the stream catchment is polluted gradually from upstream to downstream. In addition, pollution load in the stream catchment has been gradually increased, compared with recent years. Urbanisation and industrialisation of the city have affected increasing pollution in Nilüfer Stream. The results also indicated that diatoms are not affected by environmental variables such as bacteria. Bacteria are more sensitive to organic pollution, while diatoms are indicators of different environmental conditions.