Abstract
In 2018, the faunas of Cladocera and Copepoda of four mountain Sphagnum peatlands in the Republic of North Ossetia and five in the Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria, Caucasus, Russia, were studied. For each area, species complexes peculiar both to the central part of the secondary water body and to the surrounding Sphagnum floating mat, at the edge of the water, were described. Altogether, 31 species of microcrustaceans were found in the material collected. Among them, two species of Cladocera and eight species of Copepoda were recorded from mountain water bodies of the North Caucasus for the first time. Montane Sphagnum peatlands were shown to be an outpost of northern species distributions, as confirmed by finding two Copepoda species typical of more northerly regions. The abundance of microcrustaceans in floating Sphagnum mats was often tens of times higher than in the water column. The habitat type, seasonality, latitude, longitude, altitude, temperature, acidity, and mineralization combined were shown to explain only 32.3% of variations in the species complexes. This indicates a complex factor regulation of the community structure in high-altitude conditions.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This article is dedicated to the memory of Nikolai Nikolaevich Smirnov, who studied the taxonomy, morphology, and ecology of Cladocera all his life.
The authors are deeply grateful to the staff of Alania National Park for help in carrying out research on mires in the Republic of North Ossetia.
Funding
Cladocera studies were supported by the Russian Science Foundation, project no. 18-14-00325. Copepoda research was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, project no. 20-04-00145. The primary processing of the material and statistical analysis of the data were supported by a grant from Moscow State University to support the Depositary of Living Systems leading scientific schools of Moscow State University within the framework of the Moscow State University Development Program.
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Aksenova, M.D., Chertoprud, E.S., Novichkova, A.A. et al. Cladocera and Copepoda of Montane Peatlands of the North Caucasus, Russia: Composition and Formation Patterns of Species Complexes. Biol Bull Russ Acad Sci 48, 926–933 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1062359021070025
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1062359021070025