Estrutura de comunidades zooplanctônicas em piscinas de pedras na região semiárida brasileira

Abstract

The dynamic nature of temporary environments is characterized per a short hydroperiod resulting in species evolutionarily adapted to the high environmental variability present in these ecosystems. The "rock pools" are natural water bodies that have a structure vulnerable to the variable hydrological cycle, with increasingly sparse and stochastic rainfall due to changes induced by climate change. In this sense, the present study aims to evaluate the spatial distribution of the zooplankton community and the possible environmental and spatial factors associated with this distribution in rock pools in the Brazilian semiarid region. Sampling was carried out in 12 to 13 rock pools in March and July 2019, with samples of abiotic variables and the zooplankton community obtained in the subsurface. The methodology consists of the analysis of the zooplankton community through subsamples of each stone tank and the distribution of taxa in the months of sampling. The community distribution by the taxon Copepoda, Ostracoda, Cladocera and Rotífera present in the results consists of the diversity of species by their density, the responses to environmental conditions and the frequency of female with eggs in Copepoda and Rotífera and the life stages of Copepoda. Although the species in these aquatic ecosystems are ephemeral, there is a high egg production in response to drying, favoring the maintenance of populations during ecosystem filling.