Cladóceros (Crustacea: Anomopoda e Ctenopoda) associados a diferentes hábitats de um lago de águas pretas da Amazônia Central (Lago Tupé, Amazonas, Brasil)

Abstract

In the past years, a great number of studies focused on the littoral of lakes and reservoir, especially because the growing knowledge about this region indicates high productivity, habitat and niche complexity and high diversity. Among the cladocerans (Crustacea, Anomopoda and Ctenopoda), the majority of the described species are typically benthonic, living primarily in the littoral region, but studies focusing on this group were traditionally executed in the limnetic compartment. In the Amazon basin, the records of benthic cladocerans are scarce and few studies focused this group of animals. The littoral zone of black water lakes can be peculiar, due to the lack of floating meadows and the flooding of the “igapó” forest and leaf litter, all of them which constitutes different habitat to cladocerans. In Tupé lake, this differentiated littoral zone can be found only during the high water phase, and during the low water phase the littoral of the lake is composed only of sandy beaches and the lake is mainly a limnetic system. The purpose of the study was to determine the composition, species richness and diversity of cladocerans associated with different habitats in Tupé lake and the variation of these attributes throughout the hydrological cycle. The habitats examined were: the limnetic region, bottom of the lake, Utricularia foliosa‟s stands and the littoral zone (subdivided into margin and leaf litter). Quantitative and qualitative samples were taken in April, June, September, October and November/08 and February/09. A total of 76 species of cladocerans was recorded, and most of them belong to the Chydoridae. The most frequent species were Bosminopsis deitersi, Ceriodaphnia cornuta, Ilyocryptus spinifer, Diaphanosoma polyspina, Alonella dadayi, Alonella clathratula, Ephemeroporus barroisi, Bosmina longirostris, Bosmina hagmanni and Alonella n.sp. The highest species richness were observed in leaf litter (S=64), followed by the U. foliosa‟s stands (S=50) and the margin (S=39). A total of 25 species was recorded in the limnetic zone, while 16 cladocerans were registered near the bottom of the lake.In general, species richness were higher in the high water phase, when the “igapó” was flooded and the U. foliosa‟s stands were present. The species observed in this period were not recorded in the low water phase, in which the limnetic region contributed mainly to the lake‟s cladocerans diversity. It was observed also that with the beginning of the flooding cycle, the species that inhabited the littoral and the macrophytes stands were registered again, demonstrating that these organisms are adapted to the changes in habitat availability promoted by the Amazonas river floodpulse.