Succession of entomocomplexes in the hypersaline lake Manych-Gudilo (south of Russia)

Abstract

The shift of the dominating complexes occurred in the bottom communities of the hyperhaline lake Manych-Gudilo. From August 2008 to February 2011 larvae of water predatory beetles predominated. Larvae of chironomids of the genus Baeotendipes Kieffer, 1913, which in 2007 and 2008 constituted up to 70% of the total biomass at coastal stations, in 2009 and 2010 were absent in samples. This change in the bottom communities’ structure is a result of influence of both biotic (elimination by predators) and abiotic factors (increasing of mineralization and growth of areas contaminated by hydrogen sulfide). Nevertheless, in April 2011 solitary specimens of chironomids were recorded again at coastal stations; their biomass fluctuated from 0.001 to 0.2 g/m2. By July, they were found along the whole area of the lake, but their quantitative characters remained low (from 0.02 to 0.4 g/m2). In spring and early summer 2012, larvae of Baeotendipes dominated at all stations by quantity and biomass.

Keywords

• entomocomplexes
• succession
• Dytiscidae
• Chironomidae
• Manych-Gudilo
• hypersaline lake