Impact of the activities of beaver on the zooplankton of a piedmont river (Mongolia)

The activities of beavers, even in the absence of construction, promote the increase of abundance and the change of community composition in zooplankton. Size of populations, biomass, abundance of copepods, number of species, and value of the Shannon biodiversity indices all increase in parts of the river with some water flow. Biomass and abundance of cladocerans increase in stagnant floodplain waterbodies, along with the reduction of the number of species and of the uniformity of communities.     

A Comparative Study of the Far Eastern Seas and the Northern Pacific Ocean Based on Integral Parameters of Net Zooplankton in the Epipelagic Layer

Integral parameters of zooplankton community, including species diversity and its components were compared between the Chukchi Sea, Bering Sea, Sea of Okhotsk, Sea of Japan, and adjacent Pacific waters based on the data obtained by standard Juday net with a mouth area of 0.1 m² during the large-scale surveys conducted by the Pacific Fisheries Research Center (TINRO Center) in 1984–2013. These parameters were calculated for the total surveyed area of approximately 7.0 million km² and separately for each of the considered water bodies. In Pacific waters, species richness is higher than that in all the seas, while the concentration of individuals (expressed in terms of abundance, ind./m³) and evenness of their distribution over species were lower. The only sea with a larger mean size of organisms compared to the ocean is the Bering Sea. A lower species diversity than in the ocean has been recorded only from the Chukchi Sea; a lower density (in terms of biomass, g/m³) was determined only from the Sea of Japan. Among the four seas, the Chukchi Sea ranks first in terms of biomass and abundance of zooplankton, second in species evenness, third in the mean size of individuals, and last in species richness and diversity. The Bering Sea ranks first in terms of mean size of plankton organisms, second in species richness, diversity, and biomass, third in abundance, and last in species evenness. The Sea of Okhotsk ranks second in terms of mean size of individuals, last in their abundance, and third in the other parameters. The Sea of Japan ranks first in terms of species richness, evenness, and diversity, second in abundance, and last in mean size of zooplankton organisms, and, therefore, their biomass. The biomass of zooplankton, in accordance with the concentration of nutrients, increases in the southto-north direction (while its absolute abundance depends largely on the size of the body of water). The mean size of organisms increases in the same direction; the evenness of their distribution over species increases in the reverse direction (with the exception of both parameters for the Chukchi Sea). The rank of a water body for its biodiversity coincides with the species richness rank. The latter increases from north to south (except for the Okhotsk Sea), but greatly depends on the surveyed area and, even more, on the surveyed volume of water. A study of the literature data found some unexpected statistically significant relationships of the integral parameters of zooplankton with those of pelagic and bottom macrofauna, as well as with the parameters of zooplankton production, on the size of the considered bodies of water. The causes and the biological meanings of most of these relationships still do not have any rational interpretation. Their testing at other spatial scales will be continued in future works.     

Estimated copepod production rate and structure of mesozooplankton communities in the coastal Barents Sea during summer–autumn 2007

The southern Barents Sea is considered to be the most productive area in the Arctic Ocean; however, there are no assessments of daily production rates in the coastal waters. During the summer and autumn of 2007, we investigated the variation of mesozooplankton community structure relative to environmental conditions at 12 coastal stations. Copepods dominated the total zooplankton biomass and abundance during both periods. Diversity indices and the total biomass of zooplankton communities differed significantly between the two seasons. Cluster analyses revealed two distinct groups of stations which were associated with Ura Bay and the adjacent open sea, respectively. Daily production rates of the copepod species examined were calculated using three methods based on: (1) a temperature-dependent equation and (2) two multiple regressions that consider temperature, body weight, and chlorophyll a concentration. Significant seasonal differences for daily production rates were found using all three model equations (p?<?0.05): 358?±?188–1,775?±?791 versus 198?±?85–1,584?±?559?μg?dry?mass?m^?3?day^?1. Results of principal components analyses demonstrated that the abundance and biomass of herbivorous species were related to variation in chlorophyll a concentration while the abundance and biomass of other species (omnivorous copepods and Ctenophora) were related mainly with water temperature and salinity. Mesozooplankton biomass was higher during this study relative to previous studies. Computed copepod production rates were higher compared with other Arctic seas confirming a high productive potential of the coastal southern Barents Sea.     

Mathematical convergences of biodiversity indices

Various indices are used in the scientific literature to describe biodiversity changes. Nevertheless, the appropriateness of an index rather than another to transcribe trends in biodiversity of plankton communities is not clearly established.So, starting from the definitions of the diversity indices of Simpson, Gleason-Margalef, Menhinick, Brillouin, Shannon, Patten, Piélou and Hurlbert, the aim of this work is to state, under the assumption that the total number of individual is great, a mathematical convergence between the indices of Brillouin, Shannon, Simpson's reciprocal, Hurlbert on the one hand and between the indices of Piélou and Patten on the other hand. More particularly, it will be also established that these last two indices are complementary provided that the total number of individual is greater than the number of species. Gleason-Margalef's and Menhinick's indices will be considered as independents.Thus, such a convergence will lead to propose a classification of these indices into three great groups reducing their number from eight to four. This theoretical result will be then applied on phytoplankton and zooplankton communities of two neighbouring bays differently affected by anthropogenic inputs in NW Mediterranean Sea (Toulon area, France) throughout three consecutive annual cycles. A strong statistical correlation between the indices belonging to the same group seems to confirm the validity of our classification.     

Planktonic fauna of small salmon rivers in the Kola Peninsula

The zooplankton of 23 small salmon rivers of the White Sea and Barents Sea basins in the Kola Peninsula were studied. The species composition and quantitative indices in juvenile salmonids habitats are characterized. The maximum species diversity and abundance of planktonic fauna were recorded in lake-regulated rivers and places with large quantities of water. The quantitative development of zooplankton in rivers is low, which testifies to its minor role as a food resource for salmonid juveniles. The assessment of the ecological state of the river water is presented.     

Are arctic soft-sediment macrobenthic communities impoverished?

 Samples of the macrobenthic fauna of soft sediments were collected from around Svalbard during the 1991 Arctic EPOS cruise of RVPolarstern. Although faunal variability could be related to sediment granulometry and depth, all stations to the south and east of the Archipelago lay within the broadly defined central Barents Sea community. In this community, α-diversity was variable and sampled between 77 and 337 m showed no clear relationship to depth. Diversity in the area close to the polar front was notably high, rarefaction predicting that 43±5.5 species might occur in a sample of 201 individuals. k-Dominance plots suggested that muddy sand communities around Svalbard were no less diverse than similar assemblages in the North Sea. Received: 27 March 1995/Accepted: 30 July 1995     

Summer mesozooplankton distribution near Novaya Zemlya (eastern Barents Sea)

Regional variations in mesozooplankton composition, abundance and biomass were studied during a cruise in August 2006 near Novaya Zemlya Archipelago (eastern Barents Sea) using Juday net hauls from the bottom (or 100 m depth) to the surface. A comparison with multiannual literature values revealed that the mean temperature and salinity in the south and centre of the study area were similar to typical values, while temperature in the north was significantly higher. A total of 36 species and higher taxa were identified. Mesozooplankton abundance and biomass varied from 47 to 851 ind m⁻³ and from 5 to 74 mg dry weight m⁻³, respectively. Copepods dominated the mesozooplankton community, reaching 73–98% and 61–97% of the total abundance and biomass. Calanus finmarchicus and Oithona similis were the most abundant species at all stations. The biodiversities (Shannon indices) of the mesozooplankton community varied between stations from 1.10 to 2.46 (estimated from species abundances) and from 0.19 to 1.92 (estimated from species biomasses), averaging 1.93 ± 0.127 and 1.34 ± 0.151, respectively. Three groups at the 48% level of dissimilarity of species abundance were delineated by cluster analyses. The clusters differed significantly with respect to temperature and salinity. The total mesozooplankton abundance and biomass as well as quantitative parameters of most common taxa scaled negatively with temperature.     

南汇东滩湿地围垦水域内浮游动物群落结构的变化

2010年10月-2011年7月对南汇东滩围垦水域和坝外自然水域的浮游动物进行调查,研究了两水域内浮游动物的种类组成、丰度、生物量、优势种和生物多样性等生态学特征参数的季节变化,并初步探讨了围垦内外水域浮游动物群落的结构差异,及其与盐度、水温和人类活动等环境因子的关系.结果表明:围垦水域和坝外自然水域共检获浮游动物30种,其中围垦水域浮游动物24种,以轮虫的种类数最多;坝外自然水域浮游动物14种,其中桡足类占绝对优势.围垦水域浮游动物的年平均丰度明显高于坝外自然水域,年平均生物量则相反.围垦水域以角突臂尾轮虫、萼花臂尾轮虫和广布中剑水蚤等淡水种为主要优势种,而坝外自然水域则以中华华哲水蚤、火腿许水蚤和虫肢歪水蚤等河口半咸水种为主要优势种,且两水域优势种均存在季节更替.坝外水域浮游动物Shannon多样性指数(H)值和Pielou均匀度指数(J)值均明显高于围垦水域,Margalef丰富度指数(d)值和单纯度指数(C)值低于围垦水域.群落聚类和MDS结果表明,围垦水域浮游动物的群落结构与坝外自然水域存在明显差异.围垦是引起被围水域浮游动物群落结构变化的主要原因,盐度、潮汐动力等是导致动物群落结构改变的主要环境因子.     

Meiobenthos of the Former Nuclear Test Area and Nuclear Waste Disposal Grounds around the Novaya Zemlya Archipelago (Barents and Kara Seas)

The taxonomic composition and quantitative distribution of the meiobenthos were studied in materials collected from one of the former nuclear test sites by the Novaya Zemlya Archipelago in Chernaya Guba (Barents Sea) and from the grounds of nuclear waste disposal along the east coast of the Archipelago from Abrosimov Bay to Stepovoi Bay and the region of Novozemel'skaya Hollow (Kara Sea). Foraminifera and free living nematodes were the most numerous groups, and foraminifera prevailed in terms of biomass in the entire area studied. No correlation of the parameters of the meiobenthic communities with varying depth and type of ground was revealed. It was established that the taxonomic diversity increased and population density decreased with an increase in the concentration of ¹³⁷Cs. It was suggested that meiobenthic communities are able to respond quickly to the deterioration of environmental radioactivity, varying their taxonomic composition and parametrical indexes.     

The biodiversity of macrobenthos from Jiaozhou Bay

The current situation of the animal species biodiversity of macrobenthic fauna in the Jiaozhou Bay (South Shandong Peninsula, Yellow Sea) is reported in the present paper, based on the data from 15 investigation cruises carried out from February 1998 to November 2001. In analyzing the data, the Shannon-Wiener index, and species evenness and richness indices were used to study the trends of variation of the community structure, the species assemblages in the macrobenthic community, the dominant species, and the abundance of macrobenthic fauna in Jiaozhou Bay. A total of 322 species of macrobenthic animals were found in the bay, of which 133 species belong to 44 families of Polychaeta, while 92 species belong to 42 families of Crustacea. The average number of species per sample station ranged from 8 to 26. The Shannon-Wiener indices were very different among the samples, with the highest being recorded from Station 8 in November 2001, and the lowest from Station 9 in August 2001. The number of species, the Shannon-Wiener indices, and the species richness indices from Stations 7 and 9 were generally lower than those from other stations. This is because both the stations are situated at areas with a strong current and where the sediment is coarse sand. Although the richness index of species and the Shannon-Wiener index were high in Station 3, the Pielou evenness index was the lowest of all the sampling stations. This is because the station is located near the culture area of Ruditapes philippinarum, where a high abundance of clams caused low evenness. The results also revealed that the number of species and abundance greatly affected the biodiversity, and some environmental factors such as temperature, salinity, and primary productivity were also closely interrelated with biodiversity. Pollution and overexploitation caused by human activities were very important factors affecting macrobenthic biodiversity. In order to find the best way to enhance and protect living marine resources, the relationship between human activities and the biodiversity of macrobenthos in the Jiaozhou Bay should be studied further.     

The biodiversity of macrobenthos from Jiaozhou Bay

The current situation of the animal species biodiversity of macrobenthic fauna in the Jiaozhou Bay (South Shandong Peninsula, Yellow Sea) is reported in the present paper, based on the data from 15 investigation cruises carried out from February 1998 to November 2001. In analyzing the data, the Shannon-Wiener index, and species evenness and richness indices were used to study the trends of variation of the community structure, the species assemblages in the macrobenthic community, the dominant species, and the abundance of macrobenthic fauna in Jiaozhou Bay. A total of 322 species of macrobenthic animals were found in the bay, of which 133 species belong to 44 families of Polychaeta, while 92 species belong to 42 families of Crustacea. The average number of species per sample station ranged from 8 to 26. The Shannon-Wiener indices were very different among the samples, with the highest being recorded from Station 8 in November 2001, and the lowest from Station 9 in August 2001. The number of species, the Shannon-Wiener indices, and the species richness indices from Stations 7 and 9 were generally lower than those from other stations. This is because both the stations are situated at areas with a strong current and where the sediment is coarse sand. Although the richness index of species and the Shannon-Wiener index were high in Station 3, the Pielou evenness index was the lowest of all the sampling stations. This is because the station is located near the culture area of Ruditapes philippinarum, where a high abundance of clams caused low evenness. The results also revealed that the number of species and abundance greatly affected the biodiversity, and some environmental factors such as temperature, salinity, and primary productivity were also closely interrelated with biodiversity. Pollution and overexploitation caused by human activities were very important factors affecting macrobenthic biodiversity. In order to find the best way to enhance and protect living marine resources, the relationship between human activities and the biodiversity of macrobenthos in the Jiaozhou Bay should be studied further.     

Phylogenetic diversity in sulphate-reducing bacterial communities from oxidised and reduced bottom sediments of the Barents Sea

In the bottom sediments from a number of the Barents Sea sites, including coastal areas of the Novaya Zemlya, Franz Josef Land, and Svalbard archipelagos, sulphate reduction rates were measured and the phylogenetic composition of sulphate-reducing bacterial (SRB) communities was analysed for the first time. Molecular genetic analysis of the sequences of the 16S rRNA and dsrB genes (the latter encodes the β-subunit of dissimilatory (bi)sulphite reductase) revealed significant differences in the composition of bacterial communities in different sampling stations and sediment horizons of the Barents Sea depending on the physicochemical conditions. The major bacteria involved in reduction of sulphur compounds in Arctic marine bottom sediments belonged to Desulfobulbaceae, Desulfobacteraceae, Desulfovibrionaceae, Desulfuromonadaceae, and Desulfarculaceae families, as well as to uncultured clades SAR324 and Sva0485. Desulfobulbaceae and Desulfuromonadaceae predominated in the oxidised (E_h = 154–226 mV) upper layers of the sediments (up to 9% and 5.9% from all reads of the 16S rRNA gene sequences in the sample, correspondingly), while in deeper, more reduced layers (E_h = ?210 to ?105 mV) the share of Desulfobacteraceae in the SRB community was also significant (up to 5%). The highest relative abundance of members of Desulfarculaceae family (3.1%) was revealed in reduced layers of sandy-clayey sediments from the Barents Sea area affected by currents of transformed (mixed, with changed physicochemical characteristics) Atlantic waters.

     

Flow permanence and macroinvertebrate community diversity within groundwater dominated headwater streams and springs

The response of aquatic macroinvertebrate communities to flow permanence within limestone springs and headwater streams was examined across the English Peak District. At the regional scale, macroinvertebrate communities of perennial and intermittent springs displayed significant differences in the number of taxa, macroinvertebrate community abundance, diversity indices (Shannon and Simpson indices) and the Berger–Parker dominance index at intermediate discharge. However, no significant difference was recorded between intermittent and perennial sites at high discharge or when all sampling occasions were pooled. At the catchment scale, the number of taxa, community abundance and Bray–Curtis similarity coefficients within the River Lathkill differed significantly between intermittent springs and other habitats. At both the regional and catchment scale the macroinvertebrate communities of intermittent springs were characterised by a small number of taxa displaying life cycle adaptations to intermittent aquatic habitats, particularly Trichoptera.     

Taxonomic and functional diversity covary in rock pool microalgal communities despite their different drivers

Local biodiversity has traditionally been estimated with taxonomic diversity metrics such as species richness. Recently, the concept of biodiversity has been extended beyond species identity by ecological traits determining the functional role of a species in a community. This interspecific functional diversity typically responds more strongly to local environmental variation compared with taxonomic diversity, while taxonomic diversity may mirror more strongly dispersal processes compared with functional metrics. Several trait‐based indices have been developed to measure functional diversity for various organisms and habitat types, but studies of their applicability on aquatic microbial communities have been underrepresented. We examined the drivers and covariance of taxonomic and functional diversity among diatom rock pool communities on the Baltic Sea coast. We quantified three taxonomic (species richness, Shannon''s diversity, and Pielou''s evenness) and three functional (functional richness, evenness, and divergence) diversity indices and determined abiotic factors best explaining variation in these indices by generalized linear mixed models. The six diversity indices were highly collinear except functional evenness, which merely correlated significantly with taxonomic evenness. All diversity indices were always explained by water conductivity and temperature–sampling month interaction. Taxonomic diversity was further consistently explained by pool distance to the sea, and functional richness and divergence by pool location. The explained variance in regression models did not markedly differ between taxonomic and functional metrics. Our findings do not clearly support the superiority of neither set of diversity indices in explaining coastal microbial diversity, but rather highlight the general overlap among the indices. However, as individual metrics may be driven by different factors, the greatest advantage in assessing biodiversity is nevertheless probably achieved with a simultaneous application of the taxonomic and functional diversity metrics.     

庙岛群岛典型植物群落物种、功能、结构多样性及其对环境因子的响应

海岛植被在全球生物多样性研究中起重要作用,研究海岛植被多样性对于理解海陆相互作用下植物群落的多样性维持机制有重要意义.本研究以庙岛群岛的麻栎群落、刺槐群落、黑松群落、荆条群落4种典型植物群落为对象,采用物种多样性指数、功能多样性指数和结构多样性指数,在群落尺度上探讨了海岛典型植物群落物种、功能、结构多样性间的关系及其对环境因子的响应.结果表明: 黑松群落的物种丰富度与Rao指数高于刺槐群落与麻栎群落,而结构多样性却较低;荆条灌丛的物种、结构多样性均低于森林群落,而功能多样性高于部分森林群落.物种丰富度与Rao指数以及树高多样性间呈显著正相关,与功能均匀度呈显著负相关.结构多样性主要由坡度决定且与坡度呈负相关;功能均匀度与坡度呈正相关,而功能异质性、功能离散度和物种多样性则更多地受土壤理化性质的影响,与土壤容重及土壤总碳呈正相关,与土壤含水率呈负相关.总体而言,庙岛群岛的植物群落多样性格局既有与大陆植被相似的特征,但也有其海岛特殊性.     

Summer bacterio- and zooplankton in coastal waters of Svalbard

The distribution of bacterio- and zooplankton was studied in West Spitsbergen (Svalbard) coastal waters in August 2009. The bacterial abundance and biomass varied from 110 to 3360 × 10³ cells/ml and from 0.66 to 44.93 mg C/m³, respectively. These values were the highest in the surface water layers and decreased with depth. The greatest abundance of bacteria (5099 individuals/m3) was found in the freshened and warm water layer in Isfjorden. The highest biomass of zooplankton (182.41 mg C/m³) was registered in the zone of interaction of coastal and transformed Atlantic waters in the archipelago inner shelf. The spatial variations of abundance and biomass of the planktonic communities were related to the thermohaline characteristics of the water masses and, probably, to microalgal blooms.     

田湾核电站海域浮游动物生态特征

2009年8月在田湾核电站附近海域进行了海洋浮游动物及环境因子的调查,在14个调查站位共鉴定浮游动物10大类43种.其中原生动物5种,水螅水母类17种,栉水母类2种,枝角类2种,桡足类11种,糠虾2种,樱虾类1种,磷虾1种,毛颚类1种,被囊类1种.浮游动物的丰度范围为99-2546个/m3,平均值为834个/m3.主要优势种为薮枝螅水母、太平洋纺锤水蚤、背针胸刺水蚤、鸟喙尖头潘、异体住囊虫、汤氏长足水蚤、强壮箭虫.优势度分别为0.804、0.586、0.569、0.485、0.197、0.140、0.116.各类指数变幅较大(种类数为9-17,丰富度指数为0.913-1.770,多样性指数为1.170-3.212,均匀度指数为0.369-0.803).多样性指数均值为2.188,均匀度指数均值为0.587,丰富度指数均值为1.336.相关性分析表明,水温与浮游动物丰度及种类数之间具有显著的相关性,相关系数(r)分别为-0.615和-0.574,P＜0.05;种类数与多样性指数、丰富度指数及均匀度指数有显著的正相关,相关系数(r)分别为0.730、0.759(P＜0.01)和0.552( P＜0.05),水温升高使浮游动物种类数减少;水温与氨氮含量之间有极显著的正相关性,氨氮含量与浮游动物种类数之间有极显著的负相关性,水温升高使氨氮上升引起浮游动物种类数下降,温排水导致调查海域水温升高引起了浮游动物群落多样性指数、丰富度指数及均匀度指数的下降.调查海域水质状况的生物多样性指数评价显示,目前该海域水质总体处于轻度污染.     

Dynamics of biomass of Calanus finmarchicus and zooplankton in the coastal zone of the Barents Sea under various thermal regimes

The dynamics of zooplankton biomass and the biomass of the key copepod species Calanus finmarchicus were studied in the southern Barents Sea. The effect of climatic factors, i.e., water temperature and the atmospheric indices, on the zooplankton was assessed. It was found that the biomass of the zooplankton correlated positively both with the water temperature and winter NAO index of the previous year. The phenomenon and its reasons are discussed.     

Quantitative development of zooplankton in waterbodies and watercourses of the Great Lakes Depression (Mongolia)

The indices of the zooplankton of various waterbodies and watercourses of the Great Lakes Depression (Mongolia) are analyzed. The maximum quantity of zooplankton is registered in freshwater bodies. Irrespective of the waterbody type, the greatest number and biomass of zooplankton are recorded in the littoral zone, where communities are characterized by a high abundance of rotifers, including the indicator species of eutrophic waters. This indicates a high degree of organic load from the catchment area. In comparison with the data obtained by the end of 1970s, the zooplankton biomass decreased with a concomitant increases in the shares of rotifers and cladocerans. These changes are most pronounced in the freshwater ecosystem. The quantitative development of the zooplankton of watercourses depends on the character of the river head, the location of sampling stations along the watercourse’s channel, and the water current velocity.     

On the use of sample indices to reflect changes in benthic fauna biodiversity

This paper focuses on the difference between the value of some commonly used diversity indices (Simpson, Shannon, abundance, richness) calculated from benthic grab samples and their value in the population or region from which the samples are taken. The ability of the sample indices, as well as a recently derived relative Shannon index, to reflect change in biodiversity is examined in a short simulation study based on changing one of the diversity parameters (abundance, richness and evenness) in the population, whilst keeping the other two components constant. Our results suggest that, whilst their population equivalents do not always reflect biodiversity changes, the sample Simpson, Shannon and Richness indices perform well. We note that this will be true for any surveys where the sampling programme fails to detect many species in a population, and hence will be applicable for most benthic surveys. The use of sample indices to detect changes in biodiversity from long-running time series in the Thames and Tyne estuaries is illustrated.