Microcrustacean and Rotiferan Communities of Two Close Mediterranean Mountain Ponds, Lagunas de Bezas and Rubiales (Spain)

ABSTRACT

We compared two freshwater mountain ponds during an annual cycle by focusing on Rotifera and Crustacea. These ponds, Laguna de Bezas and Laguna de Rubiales, are located only 4.5 kilometers apart and share a similar altitude (ca. 1200 m.a.s.1) on the Iberian Mountain range, in Teruel (Spain). Bezas is near-permanent and dries out only in severe droughts; Rubiales is temporary, drying out periodically. They also show important differences in other limnological traits. Bezas has transparent water, harbors a fish population, and has a dense macrophyte cover, whereas Rubiales has elevated turbidity and neither fish nor macrophytes during most of the hydroperiod. These differences are probably why they have significantly different aquatic fauna. We found that rotifers were density-dominant in the zooplankton of Bezas, while Rubiales was dominated by microcustaceans. Ostracods were practically absent at Bezas, whereas the ostracod community at Rubiales was rich and variable.