Correlational patterns of species diversity, swimming ability and ecological tolerance of non-marine ostracoda (Crustacea) with different reproductive modes in shallow water bodies of ağrı region (Turkey)

Abstract

A total of 52 ostracod taxa (35 live spp. 17 subfossils) were collected from 70 shallow aquatic bodies with 11 different habitat types in Ağrı province (Turkey). Fabaeformiscandona acuminata is a new record for the Turkish ostracod fauna while 29 species were new for the province. Three types of habitats (stream, ditch and pond) contained the highest numbers of 24, 15, 11 species, respectively. Species were clustered into four main groups based on their distribution among habitats. Canonical Correspondence Analysis was able to explain 73.9% of the correlation between the 18 most frequently found species and five environmental variables. Water temperature and elevation were found to be the most effective factors on ostracods. Species with and without swimming setae tend to be found mostly in lentic and lotic habitats, respectively. Besides, species with swimming setae showed relatively higher ecological optimum and tolerance values for pH, electrical conductivity and water temperature than species without setae. The numbers of non-swimmer sexually reproducing species were twice the number of parthenogenetic species. Parthenogenetic species tend to have higher tolerance and optimum values for different environmental variables than sexual species. Results suggest a strong correlation among reproductive modes, swimming ability and ecological tolerances of the species.

Keywords:

• Active-passive distribution
• adaptive value
• ecology
• habitat type
• new report

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Dr. James Reddell (Texas Natural Science Center, University of Texas, Austin) for his review and suggestions on the earlier draft of the paper.

Disclosure statement

No financial interest or benefit has arisen from the application of this research.

Funding

This study was supported by Turkish Scientific and Technical Research Council (TÜBİTAK Project No. 213O172).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Okan Külköylüoğlu

Okan Külköylüoğlu is a limnoecologist working on non-marine Ostracoda. He designed the study, run the statistical analyses, worked on the species identification and wrote the manuscript.

Mehmet Yavuzatmaca

Mehmet Yavuzatmaca helped for sampling, identification and writing.

Derya Akdemir

Derya Akdemir provided help on identification and designing the figures and tables, and writing.

Ozan Yılmaz

Ozan Yılmaz helped to collect samples, sorting the materials and identification.

Ebru Çelen

Ebru Çelen joined to interpret the data analyses and discussion, and prepared the manuscript for the journal.

Şükran Dere

Şükran Dere is a hydrobiologist working on phytoplankton, contributed on discussion.

Nurhayat Dalkıran

Nurhayat Dalkıran is a hydrobiologist working on phytoplankton, provided discussion and interpretation on the results of the analyses.