Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Effect of Salinity on Chironomid Larvae (Diptera, Chironomidae) in Hypersaline Lakes of Crimea

  • Published:
Biology Bulletin Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper summarizes the results of our long-term research (2007–2015) of chironomids in 38 saline and hypersaline lakes of Crimea. Chironomid larvae were found at salinities up to 340 g/L, and the frequency of their occurrence decreased as salinity rose above 30–50 g/L. We identified four species, namely, Baeotendipes noctivagus, Cricotopus gr. cylindraceus, Tanytarsus gr. Mendax, and Paratanytarsus gr. quantuplex. The numbers of chironomid larvae varied within wide limits and peaked at the levels of up to 8000/m3 in plankton, up to 9000/m2 in the benthos, and up to 3000/m2 on the floating mats of filamentous green algae. The abundance, biomass, and production of larvae were nonlinearly dependent on the salinity. A salinity increase led to a decreased number of species and reduced average sizes. The maximum values were observed within 150–170 g/L.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 4.

Similar content being viewed by others

REFERENCES

  1. Alimov, A.F., Relations between biological diversity in continental waterbodies and their morphometry and water mineralization, Inland Water Biol., 2008, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 1–6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Anufriieva, E.V., Cyclopoida in hypersaline waters of the Crimea and the world: diversity, the impact of environmental factors, ecological role, Zh. Sib. Feder. Univ., Ser. Biol., 2016, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 398–408.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Anufriieva, E., Holynska, M., and Shadrin, N., Current invasions of Asian cyclopid species (Copepoda: Cyclopidae) in Crimea, with taxonomical and zoogeographical remarks on the hypersaline and freshwater fauna, Annales Zoologici, 2014, vol. 64, no. 1, pp. 109–130.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Anufriieva, E.V., Do copepods inhabit hypersaline waters worldwide? A short review and discussion, Chin. J. Oceanol. Limnol., 2015, vol. 33, no. 6, pp. 1354–1361.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Armitage, P.D., Pinder, L.C., and Cranston, P., The Chironomidae: Biology and Ecology of Nonbiting Midges, London: Springer Science and Business Media, 1995.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  6. Balushkina, E.V., The functional significance of chironomid larvae in inland water bodies, Tr. Zool. Inst. Akad. Nauk SSSR, 1987, vol. 142, p. 185.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Balushkina, E.V. and Petrova, N.A., Functioning of chironomid populations in hypersaline lakes of the Crimea, Tr. Zool. Inst. Akad. Nauk SSSR, 1989, vol. 205, pp. 129–138.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Balushkina, E.V., Golubkov, S.M., Golubkov, M.S., Litvinchuk, L.F., and Shadrin, N.V., The influence of abiotic and biotic factors on the structural and functional organization of the ecosystems of salt lakes of the Crimea, Zh. Obshch. Biol., 2009, vol. 70, no. 6, pp. 504–514.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Belmonte, G., Moscatello, S., Batogova, E.A., Pavlovskaya, T., Shadrin, N.V., and Litvinchuk, L.F., Fauna of hypersaline lakes of the Crimea (Ukraine), Thalassia Salentina, 2012, vol. 34, pp. 11–24.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Cartier, V., Claret, C., Garnier, R., and Franquet, E., How salinity affects life cycle of a brackish water species, Chironomus salinarius Kieffer (Diptera: Chironomidae), J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol., 2011, vol. 405, no. 1, pp. 93–98.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Cornette, R. and Kikawada, T., The induction of anhydrobiosis in the sleeping chironomid: current status of our knowledge, IUBMB Life, 2011, vol. 63, no. 6, pp. 419–429.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. El-Shabrawy, G.M. and El Sayed, T.R., Long-term changes and community structure of macrobenthic arthropoda and mollusca in Bardawill lagoon, Thalassia Salentina, 2005, vol. 28, pp. 17–30.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Hirvenoja, M., Revision der Gattung Cricotopus van der Wulp und ihrer Verwandten (Diptera, Chironomidae), Ann. Zool. Fenn., 1973, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 1–363.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Khlebovich, V.V. and Aladin, N.V., Salinity factor in the life of animals, Vestn. Ross. Akad. Nauk, 2010, vol. 80, no. 5–6, pp. 527–532.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Kokkinn, M.J., Osmoregulation, salinity tolerance and the site of ion excretion in the halobiont chironomid, Tanytarsus barbitarsis Freeman, Aust. J. Mar. Freshwater Res., 1986, vol. 37, no. 2, pp. 243–250.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Kokkinn, M.J., Is the rate of embryonic development a predictor of overall development rate in Tanytarsus barbitarsis Freeman (Diptera: Chironomidae)?, Aust. J. Mar. Freshwater Res., 1990, vol. 41, no. 5, pp. 575–579.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Litvinenko, N.M. and Shlyakhov, V.A., The state of the stock of chironomid larvae in inland saline water bodies of Crimea, Tr. YugNIRO, 2011, vol. 49, pp. 84–90.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Makarchenko, E.A. and Makarchenko, M.A., Chironomidae. Midges, in Opredelitel’ presnovodnykh bespozvonochnykh Rossii i sopredel’nykh territorii. Vysshie nasekomye. Dvukrylye (Identification Guide to Freshwater Invertebrates of Russia and Adjacent Countries: Higher Insects. Diptera), Zool. Inst. Ross. Akad. Nauk, St. Petersburg, 1999, vol. 4, pp. 210–297.

  19. Moscatello, S. and Belmonte, G., Egg banks in hypersaline lakes of the South-East Europe, Saline Systems, 2009, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 1–7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Müller, P.H., Neuman, P., and Storm, R., Tafeln der mathematischen Statistik, VEB Leipzig: Fachbuchverlag, 1979.

  21. Nicacio, G. and Juen, L., Chironomids as indicators in freshwater ecosystems: an assessment of the literature, Insect Conserv. Diversity, 2015, vol. 8, no. 5, pp. 393–403.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Pankratova, V.Ya., Lichinki i kukolki komarov podsemeistva Orthocladiinae fauny SSSR (Larvae and Pupae of Mosquitoes of the Subfamily Orthocladiinae of the Fauna of the USSR), Leningrad: Nauka, Leningr. Otd., 1970.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Pankratova, V.Ya., Lichinki i kukolki komarov podsemeistva Chironominae fauny SSSR (Larvae and Pupae of Mosquitoes of the Subfamily Chironominae of the Fauna of the USSR), Leningrad: Nauka, Leningr. Otd., 1983.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Patrick, M.L. and Bradley, T.J., Regulation of compatible solute accumulation in larvae of the mosquito Culex tarsalis: osmolarity versus salinity, J. Exp. Biol., 2000, vol. 203, pp. 831–839.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Renault, D., Lombard, M., Vingere, J., and Laparie, M., Comparative salinity tolerance in native flies from the subantarctic Kerguelen islands: a metabolomic approach, Polar Biol., 2016, vol. 39, no. 1, pp. 47–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Shadrin, N.V. and Anufriieva, E.V., Climate change impact on the marine lakes and their crustaceans: the case of marine hypersaline Lake Bakalskoye (Ukraine), Turk. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci., 2013a, vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 603–611.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Shadrin, N. and Anufriieva, E., Dependence of Arctodiaptomus salinus (Calanoida, Copepoda) halotolerance on exoosmolytes: new data and a hypothesis, J. Mediterr. Ecol., 2013b, vol. 12, pp. 21–26.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Shadrin, N.V., Anufriieva, E.V., Amat, F., and Eremin, O.Y., Dormant stages of crustaceans as a mechanism of propagation in the extreme and unpredictable environment in the Crimean hypersaline lakes, Chin. J. Oceanol. Limnol., 2015, vol. 33, no. 6, pp. 1362–1367.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Shadrin, N.V., Sergeeva, N.G., Latushkin, A.A., Kolesnikova, E.A., Kipriyanova, L.M., Anufriieva, E.V., and Chepyzhenko, A.A., Transformation of Gulf Sivash (the Sea of Azov) in conditions of growing salinity: changes of meiobenthos and other ecosystem components (2013–2015), Zh. Sib. Fed. Univ., Ser. Biol., 2016, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 452–466.

    Google Scholar 

  30. Shadrin, N.V., Anufriieva, E.V., Belyakov, V.P., and Bazhora, A.I., Chironomidae larvae in hypersaline waters of the Crimea: diversity, distribution, abundance and production, Eur. Zool. J., 2017, vol. 84, no. 1, pp. 61–72.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Suemoto, T., Kawai, K., and Imabayashi, H., A comparison of desiccation tolerance among 12 species of chironomid larvae, Hydrobiologia, 2004, vol. 515, pp. 107–114.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Suworow, E.K., Zur Beurteilung der lebenserscheinungen in gestatigten salzseen, Zool. Anz., 1908, vol. 32, pp. 647–674.

    Google Scholar 

  33. Szadziewski, R. and Hirvenoja, M., Cricotopus zavreli sp. n. (diptera, chironomidae), a halobiontic non-biting midge from Poland, Ann. Entomol. Fenn., 1981, vol. 47, no. 4, pp. 111–118.

    Google Scholar 

  34. Wiederholm, T., Chironomidae of the Holarctic Region: keys and diagnoses, Part 1: Larvae, Entomol. Scand. Suppl., 1983, vol. 19, p. 457.

    Google Scholar 

  35. Zagorodnyaya, Yu.A., Batogova, E.A., and Shadrin, N.V., Long-term transformation of the plankton in the hypersaline Lake Bakalskoye (Crimea) at salinity fluctuations, Morsk. Ekol. Zh., 2008, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 41–50.

    Google Scholar 

  36. Zawierucha, K., Kolicka, M., Takeuchi, N., and Kaczmarek, L., What animals can live in cryoconite holes? A faunal review, J. Zool., 2015, vol. 295, no. 3, pp. 159–169.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank O.Yu. Eremin for his support in organizing the field work and E.A. Galagovets for assistance in processing the samples.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Limnology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 196105, St. Petersburg, Russia

    V. P. Belyakov & A. I. Bazhora

  2. The A.O. Kovalevsky Institute of Marine Biological Research of RAS, 299011, Sevastopol, Russia

    E. V. Anufriieva & N. V. Shadrin

Authors
  1. V. P. Belyakov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. E. V. Anufriieva
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. A. I. Bazhora
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. N. V. Shadrin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to E. V. Anufriieva.

Additional information

Translated by E. Kuznetsova

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Belyakov, V.P., Anufriieva, E.V., Bazhora, A.I. et al. Effect of Salinity on Chironomid Larvae (Diptera, Chironomidae) in Hypersaline Lakes of Crimea. Biol Bull Russ Acad Sci 45, 1211–1218 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1062359018100059

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1062359018100059

Search

Navigation