Protozooplankton and its relationship with environmental conditions in 13 water bodies of the Mogi-Guaçu basin - SP, Brazil

Authors

  • Inessa Lacativa Bagatini Universidade Federal de São Carlos – UFSCar, Departamento de Ecologia e Biologia Evolutiva, Laboratório de Ecologia de Microrganismos Aquáticos
  • Ana Lúcia Gerardi Spínola Universidade Federal de São Carlos – UFSCar, Departamento de Ecologia e Biologia Evolutiva, Laboratório de Ecologia de Microrganismos Aquáticos
  • Bianca de Miranda Peres Universidade Federal de São Carlos – UFSCar, Departamento de Ecologia e Biologia Evolutiva, Laboratório de Ecologia de Microrganismos Aquáticos
  • Adrislaine da Silva Mansano Universidade Federal de São Carlos – UFSCar, Departamento de Ecologia e Biologia Evolutiva, Laboratório de Ecologia de Microrganismos Aquáticos
  • Mafalda Alexandra Antunes Rodrigues Universidade Federal de São Carlos – UFSCar, Departamento de Ecologia e Biologia Evolutiva, Laboratório de Ecologia de Microrganismos Aquáticos
  • Marco Antônio Portugal Luttembarck Batalha Universidade Federal de São Carlos – UFSCar, Departamento de Botânica
  • José Valdecir de Lucca Universidade Federal de São Carlos – UFSCar, Departamento de Ecologia e Biologia Evolutiva, Laboratório de Ecologia de Microrganismos Aquáticos
  • Mirna Januária Leal Godinho Universidade Federal de São Carlos – UFSCar, Departamento de Ecologia e Biologia Evolutiva, Laboratório de Ecologia de Microrganismos Aquáticos
  • Takako Matsumura Tundisi Instituto Internacional de Ecologia – IIE
  • Mirna Helena Regali Seleghim Universidade Federal de São Carlos – UFSCar, Departamento de Ecologia e Biologia Evolutiva, Laboratório de Ecologia de Microrganismos Aquáticos

Keywords:

ciliates, amoebae, plankton, environmental variables, freshwater

Abstract

Protozooplankton is an important component of the aquatic microbial food webs and its composition, density, and distribution reflect the chemical, physical, and biological aspects of the environment. Considering the scarce literature on freshwater protozoans in Brazil and on protozoan ecology in subtropical environments, we listed the ciliates and amoebae taxa found in 13 water bodies in São Paulo State and analyzed their abundance in relation to the environmental variables. We collected two samples in each environment, fixed immediately with mercuric chloride and stained with bromophenol blue. After microscopical analysis, 74 protozoan genera were identified and the Ciliophora were dominant in the majority of the environments. The Stichotrichia, represented mostly by the genus Halteria, occurred in all environments, and was the dominant subclass in five of them. The canonic correspondence analysis of the most frequent genera and the environmental variables showed that nitrite and nitrate were the variables that better explained the distribution of Limnostrombidium, Urotricha, and Vorticella. The densities of the genera Halteria, Coleps, and of the species Cinetochilum margaritaceum were positively affected by increasing concentrations of dissolved oxygen, particulate phosphate, conductivity, and temperature. C. margaritaceum were also negatively affected by increasing concentrations of nitrite and nitrate. Considering that we made only one sampling in each environment, the richness was high compared to the mean diversity of lakes in the São Paulo State. The Diogo Lake, located in an ecological reserve, was the richest one, confirming the need of more research on the biodiversity of more preserved environments.

Downloads

Published

2013-12-01

How to Cite

Bagatini, I. L., Spínola, A. L. G., Peres, B. de M., Mansano, A. da S., Rodrigues, M. A. A., Batalha, M. A. P. L., Lucca, J. V. de, Godinho, M. J. L., Tundisi, T. M., & Seleghim, M. H. R. (2013). Protozooplankton and its relationship with environmental conditions in 13 water bodies of the Mogi-Guaçu basin - SP, Brazil. Biota Neotropica, 13(4). Retrieved from //www.biotaneotropica.org.br/BN/article/view/1229

Issue

Section

Articles
Loading...