The “Minor Water Bodies” and Their Malacofauna: Are Freshwater Gastropod Communities Usable for Habitat Classification?
Babushkin E.S. Andreeva S.I. Nekhaev I.O. Vinarski M.V.
March 2023MDPI
Water (Switzerland)
2023#15Issue 6
The typology of inland water bodies remains a topical issue in limnology. Numerous classifications of freshwater habitats have been proposed, but none of them has gained the universal acceptance. Current global changes and the increasing human impact on freshwater ecosystems make it important to understand the ecological relationships between freshwater animals and their environment. In this study, we tested a typology of the so-called “minor water bodies” proposed in the 1960s by the Polish ecologist Klimowicz. The term “minor water bodies” refers to a group of semi- or impermanent habitats that are prone to periodical or occasional desiccation. The division of habitat categories within this typology was based on qualitative features, and the validity of this classification has never been tested statistically. Here, we used the data on occurrences of 18 species of freshwater and semiaquatic gastropods observed in 86 minor water bodies of the Bolshoy Yugan River basin (Western Siberia, Russia) to test the hypothesis that each type of minor water body, in accordance with the aforementioned classification, maintains its own unique set of species. The statistical analysis confirmed the significant differences between the three habitat types on the basis of their gastropod communities, whereas one type (groundwater springs) appeared to be indistinguishable from the others. Our results show that freshwater gastropod communities are a suitable tool for habitat classification, and, at the same time, they highlight the need to apply statistical methods to a priori classifications based on the qualitative approach to the division of habitat types.
freshwater Gastropoda , habitat classification , molluscan communities , typology of water bodies , Western Siberia
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Scientific and Educational Center of the Institute of Natural and Technical Sciences, Surgut State University, 1 Lenin Ave., Surgut, 628403, Russian Federation
Laboratory of Macroecology and Biogeography of Invertebrates, St. Petersburg State University, 7/9 Universitetskaya Emb., Saint Petersburg, 199034, Russian Federation
Tyumen Scientific Centre, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 86 Malygina St, Tyumen, 625026, Russian Federation
Department of Life Safety and Ecology, Omsk State Transport University, 35 Karl Marx Ave, Omsk, 644046, Russian Federation
Department of Applied Ecology, St. Petersburg State University, 7/9 Universitetskaya Emb, Saint Petersburg, 199034, Russian Federation
Institute of Zoology, 93 Al-Farabi Ave, Almaty, 050060, Kazakhstan
Laboratory of Systematics & Ecology of Invertebrates, Omsk State Pedagogical University, Tukhachevskogo Emb. 14, Omsk, 644099, Russian Federation
Scientific and Educational Center of the Institute of Natural and Technical Sciences
Laboratory of Macroecology and Biogeography of Invertebrates
Tyumen Scientific Centre
Department of Life Safety and Ecology
Department of Applied Ecology
Institute of Zoology
Laboratory of Systematics & Ecology of Invertebrates
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