Distribution of Ciliates in Relation to Environmental Parameters in two Gulfs of Kapıdağ Peninsula (the Sea of Marmara)

Abstract

This study was carried out seasonally in order to determine the environmental variables affecting the ciliate species and their distribution in Gulfs of Erdek and Bandırma by using three stations in each gulf between 2006 and 2008. A total of 14 ciliates taxa were identified, three of them were the genus level. Epiplocyloides sp., Proplectella ovata, Laboea strobila and Tiarina fusus species identified are the new records for the Sea of Marmara. The maximum number of species belonged to the Choreotrichida ordo with 11 taxa. The Choreotrichida ordo showed the highest diversity in summer season. The ecological data used in this study were obtained from the previous study concurrently conducted in the same region. According to the Spearman's rank-correlation, it was determined that the salinity, dissolved oxygen (DO), chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) and NO3+NO2-N levels affected the distribution of the ciliates and the salinity was increased and species abundance was decreased based on the rise in depth. The highest similarity between the stations was observed in stations 2 and 3 in the Gulf of Bandırma at a depth of 0.5 m (96.5%) and all the depths of the stations were found to be 23.6% similar.