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Structure of freshwater zooplankton communities from tundra waterbodies in the Lena River Delta, Russian Arctic, with a discussion on new records of glacial relict copepods

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Abstract

We present new and more complete information than previously available on the pelagic fauna of the Lena River Delta, eastern Siberia. Zooplankton samples collected between 2000 and 2011 from 11 varied aquatic habitats on Samoylov Island have been examined and clear differences noted between the zooplankton communities in different types of tundra waterbody. Well-marked synchronism in the development of common species populations was, however, revealed by analysis of their life cycles. The pelagic fauna of the investigated aquatic ecosystems is heterogeneous in origin, consisting mainly of aboriginal Arctic species but also including invasive species from more temperate latitudes and relicts of ice-age fauna. One hundred and twenty-five zooplankton taxa belonging to Rotifera (67) and Arthropoda (58) phyla were identified. Five Copepoda species and seven Cladocera species were recorded for the first time in the Lena River Delta; the presence of most of these species in the delta’s aquatic ecosystems is associated with Lena River water influx during spring flood. Two calanoid copepods, Eurytemora arctica Wilson and Tash and Eurytemora foveola Johnson, are new species to Palearctic pelagic fauna, previously known only from the Nearctic. The data obtained provide new confirmation that the last glaciation had a marked influence on microcrustacean distributions within the Arctic.

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Acknowledgements

This work was made possible by support from German and Russian funding agencies, i.e. the BMBF-Project Otto-Schmidt-Labor for Polar and Marine Science (03PLO37A)—Project OSL-02-01, and the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (Grant 17-04-00027). The authors would like to express their gratitude for the opportunity to carry out field and laboratory work at the “Samoylov Island” scientific station (Siberian Branch of RAS, Novosibirsk) and for the technical support provided. We would also like to thank all of our colleagues who helped with sample collection, especially Waldemar Schneider (AWI, Potsdam).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lena Delta Nature Reserve, Ak. Fedorova 28, 678400, Tiksi, Sakha Republic, Russia

    E. Abramova

  2. Institute of Earth Science, Saint-Petersburg State University, 10th line of Vasiljevsky Island, 33-35, 199178, St. Petersburg, Russia

    I. Vishnyakova & G. Solovyev

  3. Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research, Telegrafenberg A43, 14473, Potsdam, Germany

    J. Boike

  4. Department of Marine Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Guldhedsgatan 5a, 40530, Gothenburg, Sweden

    A. Abramova

  5. Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, 38, Beringa Str., 199397, St. Petersburg, Russia

    F. Martynov

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  1. E. Abramova
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  3. J. Boike
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Correspondence to E. Abramova.

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Abramova, E., Vishnyakova, I., Boike, J. et al. Structure of freshwater zooplankton communities from tundra waterbodies in the Lena River Delta, Russian Arctic, with a discussion on new records of glacial relict copepods. Polar Biol 40, 1629–1643 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-017-2087-2

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