Biodiversity and ecology of Hirudinea (Annelida) from the Natural Reserve of Isla Martín García, Río de la Plata, Argentina

Abstract

The Island of Martin Garcia lies at the confluence of the Uruguay and Paraná Rivers (upper Río de la Plata). This island is an outcrop of the crystalline basement. Due to basalt exploitation the island exhibits several ponds covered by carpets of free-floating macrophytes. Seven major environmental variables were measured: water and air temperature, percentage of oxygen saturation, dissolved oxygen, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids and pH. Eleven leech species were found, Helobdella striata, H. diploides, H. adiastola and H. hyalina were new records. UPGMA clustering of species based on their occurrence in different ecological conditions revealed three main species groups. Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) explained 97.2% of the correlation between species and environmental variables. H. triserialis shows the widest range of tolerance, H. hyalina shows positive relationships to conductivity; H. diploides shows a high correlation with dissolved oxygen, H. striata, H. lineata, and S. similis are negatively correlated with water temperature, and H. simplex is positively correlated with pH. Relationships between the species richness (S) and the sampling sites were negatively correlated with water temperature and positively correlated with dissolved oxygen. Leech biodiversity from the water bodies of Martín García Island, shows a great diversity of species and a wide plasticity regarding the characteristics of the environmental factors considered.Keywords: biodiversity, CCA, cosmopolitan, ecology, endemics, leeches. A Biodiversidade e a Ecologia de

Mollusks (Gastropoda and Bivalvia) of the Multiple-Use Reserve Martín García Island, Río de la Plata River: biodiversity and ecology

“…Several recent studies have been published on the biota of the Multiple-Use Reserve Martín García Island -e.g., hydrophyte plants (Lahitte and Hurrell, 1996), vertebrates (Juárez, 1995;Lahitte et al, 1995;Lahitte and Hurrell, 1998), the platyhelminth Temnocephala (Damborenea et al, 1997), aquatic oligochaetes (Armendáriz et al, 2000;Armendáriz and César, 2001), Hirudinea (César et al, 2009), aquatic and semiaquatic insects (Fernández and López Ruf, 1999), ostracod crustaceans César and Liberto, 2008), aquatic mollusks (Rumi et al, 1996;Rumi et al, 2004;Martín and Negrete, 2006;Rumi et al, 2007;Martín, 2008), and terrestrial mollusks (Martín et al, 2009).…”

Occurrence of Hirudinea species in a post urban reach of a Patagonian mountain stream

“…A few studies on biodiversity and ecology of hirudineans have been conducted in Argentina (gullo & daRRigRan, 1991;daRRigRan et al, 1998;gullo, 1998, 2007CésaR et al, 2009). In particular, in the Patagonia region, leeches appeared usually in macroinvertebrates ecological research of streams and rivers (MiseRendino & Pizzolón, 2003;MiseRendino et al, 2011;tagliafeRRo et al, 2013), listed in biotic index adapted to the area (MiseRendino & Pizzolón, 1999;figueRoa et al, 2003) and reported as part of the diet of fish including native ones (Casaux & di PRinzio, 2007), nevertheless the level of taxonomical resolution is not always fine.…”

Biologic and Ecologic Aspects of Sinelobus stanfordi (Richardson, 1901) (Crustacea, Tanaidacea) in the Martín García Island Natural Reserve, Río de la Plata, Argentina

“…The littoral zone of the island contains wide diversity of substrates that provide many opportunities for faunal colonization. Examples of several recent publications on the invertebrate biota of this natural reserve have concerned the platyhelminth temnocephala [2], the aquatic oligochaetes [3,4,5], the hirudinea [6], the aquatic and semiaquatic insects [7], the ostracod crustaceans [8,9,10,11], the aquatic mollusks [12,13,14,15,16,17], and the terrestrial mollusks [18].…”