Ecological and faunistic characteristics of zooplankton of the Volga-Kama Reserve lakes
Long-term (in 1998-2009 and 2012-2014) studies of zooplankton of 12 lakes of the Volga-Kama Biosphere Reserve (Middle Volga Region, Russia) were carried out. The aim of the research was to identify biodiversity, structure of zooplankton communities and assess water quality. As a result, 131 species of zooplankton were identified, among them Rotifers - 62 (47 %), Cladocera - 44 (34 %), Copepoda - 25 (19 %). Rotifers were most widely represented. The vast majority of species were cosmopolitan, or widespread. Most species living in lakes are indifferent to mineralization of water, temperature, pH value. Among the indicator species, oligosaprobes and o-β-mesosaprobes predominate. The average long-term data calculated from the summer values of the abundance and biomass of zooplankton varied over lakes in fairly wide ranges. The basis of the zooplankton abundance in many lakes was the representatives of the genus Keratella or juvenile stages of copepods. Rotifers of the genus Asplanchna were very often dominated on biomass. It is shown that the main features of the structure of zooplankton communities are determined mainly by the trophic status of lakes.