Investigation on Identification, Density and Distribution of Zooplankton in Lar Reservoir in Iran

H. Abdollahpour Biria¹*, S. M. Salavatian² and A. Vahedi³

¹Department of Fisheries, Talesh Branch, Islamic Azad University, Talesh Iran.

²Talesh Branch, Islamic Azad University, Talesh Iran.

³Department of Agriculture, Astara Branch, Islamic Azad University, Astara Iran.

Corresponding Author E-mail: Abdollahpour51@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT: For optimum management, some limnological variables and zooplankton identification, density and distribution in Lar reservoir were studied over a two-year cycle( 2008 and 2009 ) during the ice-free seasons (May to October ).Samples were taken by simple plankton net (55ìm mesh size) from various depth layers (10-0 m, 20-10 m, 30-20 m) and were fixed with formalin %4. In the laboratory they were studied with inverted microscop. In this survey, we identified 21 genera in 3 zoopleanktonic orders. The order of Cladocera was predominant and comprised 55.81% of population annually. The predominate species and genera were Bosmina coregoni, Daphnia pulex, Daphnia longspina and embryonic Cladocerus. The order of Rotatoria comprised the second position with species of Asplanchna brightwelli , Polyarthera dolicopthera , Syncheata pectinata and Keratella cochlearis (percentage composition 37.71). Copepoda constitute 6.45 percentage compositions with five species and genera Cyclops vulgaris, C. smirnovi, Eucyclops sp., Arctodiaptomus acutilobatus and Copepoda Naupli.The mean density of for the sampling all monthly, mean of dominant Zooplanktonic density belonged to Cladocera order (32968.83±123.40 number/m3) while they were the least density in September by (6570 ±147.12 number/m3) Rotatoria were the second level with mean of 19074.66±115.39 number/m3 that the mean least of them with 9955.75±73.10 number/m3 were in September.Non-parametric statistical analysis based on Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney showed that there were significant differences between zooplankton abundance in different stations and months (P<0.05) but there was not any significant difference between different depths (P>0.05). Biological studies indicated that this reservoir has low potential to planktonic productivity and due to geographical location of this dam, remarkable temperature differences can be observed in different years especially in fall and winter, which is biologically important.

KEYWORDS: Zooplankton; Densityl; Distribution; Lar reservoir; Iran

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