The aquatic diversity of ostracoda, phytoplankton and zooplankton from freshwater cave habitats in Turkey

Abstract

During this study, a total of 13 ostracod, 2 zooplankton and 43 phytoplankton taxa were recorded from 22 aqueous caves visited between 2010 and 2013 in Turkey. Whereas three ostracods (Candona cf. Candida, Eucypris sp., Potamocvpris sp.) were new records for caves in Turkey, two others (Ilyocypris cf. gibba and Pseudocandona eremita) were reported for the second time from Turkey. With the inclusion of these taxa, the number of freshwater ostracods reported from caves globally has increased to 68 taxa, although this is probably an underestimate of the total diversity. The records of two zooplankton species (Diacyclops bisetosus, Tropocyclops prasimts) found in Cumayani Cave (Zonguldak) is not surprising because of their cosmopolitan distribution and habitat preference characteristics. Among the phytoplankton, Bacillariophyta had the highest richness with 22 taxa followed by Cyanobacteria, Chlorophyta and Euglenophyta with 13, 6 and 2 taxa respectively. The results suggest that each cave has its own unigue biological diversity and species richness that should be recognized and studied in detail.