Authors : Aysel Bekleyen and Erdogan Ipek
Abstract: Balikligol Lake also known as the holy Halil-ür Rahman Lake is an important tourism centre in Turkey. Since its waters and fish are considered to be holy, the shallow lake has a dense fish population and can be considered a unique natural aquarium. In this natural aquarium, seasonal changes in the zooplankton community structure were evaluated in terms of species composition and abundance for the first time and a total of 34 taxa were identified, 29 of them belonging to Rotifera, 3 Cladocera and 2 Copepoda. Two of these rotifers Lecane thienemanni (Hauer, 1938) and Notommata glyfura Wulfert, 1935 are new records for Turkey. In addition, L. thienemanni is new for Western Asia. The species richness was high in summer. Total abundance ranged from 941-23.312 ind. m-3, exhibiting a major peak in early spring and a minor one in early autumn. In terms of density, Rotifera dominated with 63%, followed by Copepoda with 33% and Cladocera with 4%. Predation pressure from fish, high temperatures and low oxygen values had significant impacts on zooplankton composition and abundance, especially for the crustacean community.
Aysel Bekleyen and Erdogan Ipek, 2010. Composition and Abundance of Zooplankton in a Natural Aquarium, >Lake Balikligol (Sanliurfa, Turkey) and New Records. Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances, 9: 681-687.