Basic Results of Long-Term Makrozoobenthos Studies in Lakes Naroch, Myastro, and Batorino (Belarus)

Abstract

The article analyzes the trends in the changes of taxonomic structure, density, and biomass of the macrozoobenthos complex and its dominant groups in lakes Naroch, Myastro, and Batorino for the period from 1947 to 2015. The research was carried out at the G.G. Vinberg Naroch Biological Station. In the studied lakes 394 taxa of animals classified as macrobenthic invertebrates were recorded for the entire observation period. The most diverse composition of zoobenthic organisms was in mesotrophic Lake Naroch, in which 373 taxa were found; in eutrophic Lake Myastro and in high-eutrophic Lake Batorino 223 and 155 taxa, respectively, were found. The average-weighted values of the total biomass and density of zoobenthos for the lakes during the studied years were 15.67 and 1.48 in lake Naroch, 12.47 and 1.58 in lake Myastro, and 9.73 g/m2 and 0.90 thousand ind/m2 in lake Batorino. The structural organization of benthic communities in these lakes indicates their belonging to the chironomid type

Keywords

• Lake Naroch
• Lake Myastro
• Lake Batorino
• macrozoobenthos
• biomass
• density
• observation period
• benthification