Composition, characteristics and long-term variability of the freshwater microcrustacean fauna of the Faroe Islands

ABSTRACT

Despite the accessibility of the Faroe Islands, faunistic research on their numerous lakes and ponds is quite rare. The biota of Faroese freshwaters is still underexplored, and its specific traits raise many questions. In the present survey, 32 microcrustacean species were observed, 8 of which were new to the Faroese fauna. The obtained species list shows that Cladocera species prevail over Copepoda here, which is not typical of northern territories. This fact is due to (1) the extraordinarily warm climate of the Faroe Islands compared to other areas at similar latitudes because of the heating effect of the surrounding North Atlantic Current and (2) the lack of calanoid species, which have never been found in the freshwaters of the Faroe Islands. The diachronic analysis of the species diversity and composition over the centuries of research on the archipelago showed no evidence of the impact of global climate change on the fauna.

KEYWORDS:

• Cladocera
• Copepoda
• Faroe Islands
• freshwater fauna
• climate change

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The study of Cladocera ecology, taxonomy and biogeography was supported by the Russian Science Foundation [18-14-00325]. The study of Copepoda was supported by Moscow State University Grant for Leading Scientific Schools “Depository of the Living Systems” in frame of the MSU Development Program.