Environmental and climatic factors influencing the distribution of sub-fossil cladocerans in thermokarst lakes in northeastern Siberia, Russia

• Main Authors: Frolova, L., Nazarova, L., Nigamatzyanova, G., Mukhametgaliev, N. R., Krylov, P., Frolova, A.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Kazan State University 2013
• Subjects: permafrost; Thermokarst; Tundra; Siberia
• Online Access: https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/35882/; https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/35882/1/Frolova_2013.pdf; http://repository.kpfu.ru/eng/?p_id=101414&p_lang=2

Surface sediments of thermokarst lakes along the temperature gradient were sampled in northwestern Siberia. The lakes were distributed through three environmental zones: typical tundra, southern tundra and forest-tundra, which were all situated within the continuous permafrost zone. Our investigation showed that the cladoceran communities in the lakes of the region are represented by diverse, abundant communities as reflected by the taxonomic richness and high diversity indices. The differences in the cladoceran assemblages were related to the limnological and geographical position, vegetation type, climate and water chemistry. The constrained redundancy analysis (RDA) indicated that the TJuly, water depth and both sulphate (SOf ~) and silicium (Si4*) concentrations statistically significant (p < 0.05) explained the variance in the cladoceran assemblage.