Benthic macroinvertebrate fauna of two alpine lakes over the last century: The value of historical data for interpreting environmental changes

Abstract

Data on benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages of two alpine lakes in the Tatra Mts (Slovakia) collected in 1914, 1933, 1979-1982, 1993-1997, and 2000 were collated and analysed in an attempt to define their relationship to major environmental events affecting these alpine lakes over the last century. The oldest data were considered an important background before the onset of acidification in one of the lakes in the 1950s, while the most current contain possible information on biological recovery. Results show that data from the 1910s are insufficient to characterize the macroinvertebrate fauna. Deep zone assemblages of both studied lakes have remained stable since the 1930s. Changes in the density of dominant species over time were found in the acidified lake, suggesting a connection between an increase in phosphorus and chlorophyll-a concentration. The composition of the littoral assemblages in the acidified lake in the 1930s indicates that the lake was not strongly acidified at that time. A stable composition since the 1980s reflects the ongoing acid stress. Incomplete species data on the non-acidified lake did not allow us to detect possible changes in the littoral fauna related to acidification. Single findings of species indicating a recovery process need longer-term data to confirm such a trend. Results from this study suggest that historical datasets consist of valuable information that can supplement palaeolimnological analyses in the reconstruction of lake ontogeny.

Chironomid-inferred Holocene temperature changes in the South Carpathians (Romania)

“…Based on Fjellheim et al (2009), Tanytarsus gregarius Kieffer 1909 is the only known species belonging to the T. mendax-type from the Retezat Mountains (the species was found in Taul Negru and Taul Gemenele). In the Northern Carpathians (Tatra Mountains), T. gregarius occurs mainly in lakes with relatively high productivity and sometimes with acidic conditions (Bitušík et al, 2006(Bitušík et al, , 2010Kubovčík and Bitušík, 2006). Therefore, between ca.…”

Temporal trends and spatial patterns of chironomid communities in alpine lakes recovering from acidification under accelerating climate change

“…Subsequently, we harmonised the recent and paleolimnological records and excluded Zalutschia tatrica from the dataset. This orthoclad species was first reliably documented in the 1980s and regularly since the early 1990s (Bitušík et al., 2010 and unpublished data). Kubovčík and Bitušík (2006) noted the absence of Z. tatrica in the sediment record that contradicts the abundance of living larvae in samples taken from Starolesnianske pleso.…”

“…1653–1992) taken in the deeper part of Starolesnianske pleso and recent chironomid data (1993–2013) sampled in the wadable area were merged and summarised in a species dataset. To ensure consistency between the sediment and observational data, we first compared the historical data collected in deeper and shallower parts of the lake (Bitušík et al., 2010), and found a high degree of compositional similarity among the samples (Mantel r = 0.86, p = 0.004).…”

Stygobitic oligochaetes (Annelida, Clitellata) in Poland with remarks on their distribution in Central Europe

“…For example, Rhyacodrilus subterraneus was not found in epigean waters in Poland despite many studies done on their oligochaete fauna, but it lives in epigean streams of northern Europe and mountain streams of France and Spain (see Dumnicka and Koszałka 2005). Trichodrilus tatrensis is also known from subterranean (Hrabě 1960) or cold epigean waters (Šporka 1992(Šporka , Bitušik et al 2010. Such a species could be named "local" stygobionts in regions where they occur in subterranean waters only.…”

“…The state of knowledge about stygobitic oligochaetes was first summarized by Juget and Dumnicka (1986) and recently by Des Châtelliers et al (2009). Moreover information that accumulated in the last years and some data not considered by Des Châtelliers et al (2009) was taken into account in the present study: for Austria -paper by Danielopol and Pospisil (2001), for Czech Republik -by Hrabě (1981) and Schenkova et al (2010), for Germany -by Stein et al (2012), for Slovakia -by Šporka (1992) and Bitušik et al (2010), for Poland -by Dumnicka (1998Dumnicka ( , 2000Dumnicka ( , 2005Dumnicka ( , 2009a and Dumnicka and Koszałka (2005).…”