Benthic macroinvertebrate community diversity of Montebello Lakes, Chiapas

Abstract

Benthic macroinvertebrate community biodiversity of tropical lakes has been rarely addressed. The present study recognizes the taxonomic diversity of the deep benthic macroinvertebrate communities of 18 lakes of the Protected Natural Area "Lagunas de Montebello", Chiapas, Mexico. The lakes display different morphometric features and trophic states. Five sampling campaigns were carried out between 2013 and 2016. Forty-nine taxa (14 orders, 25 families, 40 identified genera, and 9 undetermined taxa) were recorded. Taxonomic richness varied between 0 and 19 taxa with a mean of 5 ± 6 taxa. The regional species richness was high compared to other tropical lakes in Mexico and worldwide; the richness per lake was similar to other tropical lakes. Chironomidae was the best-represented family with 17 genera. Even the studied lakes belong to the same lake district, low taxonomic similarity among them was found; 65.3% of genera were found in a single lake. Eutrophic shallow lakes had lower richness (2.5 ± 3.5, 0-5) compared to oligotrophic shallow lakes (5.0 ± 7.1, 0-10), and eutrophic deep lakes had lower richness (2.0 ± 1.8, 0-4) than oligotrophic deep lakes (7.0 ± 6.5, 0-19); nonetheless, we found no statistically significant differences. Eutrophication is reducing deep benthic community diversity, threatening these fragile ecosystems characterized by high taxonomic richness and singularity.

Regional Pelagic Rotifer Biodiversity in a Tropical Karst Lake District

“…Rotifer inventories of Mexican inland waters report species richness values of 10-125 in rivers [9,11], 7-60 in reservoirs [7][8][9], 10-65 in oligotrophic [10,45], and 35-80 in eutrophic lakes [9,12]; however, our 21 pelagic rotifer species richness for the PNLM lakes is on the lower limit of those ranges. It is noteworthy that the low biodiversity recorded in the pelagic rotifer assemblage from the lakes of the PNLM matches the low biodiversity reports for other biological assemblages (e.g., benthic macroinvertebrates [46]) of these same lakes. At a regional scale, the study of Arroyo-Castro et al [15] in 17 sinkholes from the Cozumel Island, Quintana Roo, showed 36 rotifer species richness, ranging from 0 to 19 species per water body.…”

Microcrustacean (Cladocera and Copepoda) Assemblages of a Tropical Karst Lake District

“…Recently, [12] explained that the closeness between lakes and the high environmental heterogeneity promoted species turnover, resulting in the large regional diversity but great singularity level among the benthic macroinvertebrates of the "Lagunas de Montebello" National Park lakes. The same large regional diversity but great singularity in these lakes have been reported for the zooplankton and benthic macroinvertebrates communities [10,11,60].…”

“…If the increasing human activities in the area lead to the loss of just a single lake's biodiversity, the result is a reduction in the regional biodiversity. Similar high regional diversities on the pelagic rotifer [11] and benthic macroinvertebrate [10] assemblages suggest this is a characteristic diversity pattern of the "Lagunas de Montebello" National Park Lake District.…”

“…To extend the knowledge of the aquatic biodiversity of this karst lake district, this study aimed to describe the pelagic microcrustacean assemblages (Cladocera and Copepoda) in a set of 17 lakes and their structure (abundance, biomass) and to identify the changes imposed on these microcrustacean assemblages by the local anthropic activities, including impacted/eutrophic and non-impacted/oligotrophic lakes of the same lake district. Previous studies on the biological communities in these lakes (e.g., [10,11]) allowed us to hypothesize a large regional -lake district -but low individual -per lakebiodiversity while displaying high unicity of microcrustacean assemblage composition. Furthermore, lower microcrustacean biodiversity but higher abundance and biomass in the impacted/eutrophic compared to the non-impacted/oligotrophic lakes.…”

“…This unicity justifies its designation as a natural protected area by presidential decree in 1959, RAMSAR Site in 2003, and Biosphere Reserve MAB-UNESCO in 2009. Previous studies [10,11] suggested a great regional (i.e., the whole lake district) aquatic biodiversity but a large individual singularity (i.e., very few taxa present in more than a lake), stressing the fragility of these aquatic ecosystems [12]. Belonging to the same lake district and located close to each other, sharing the same climate, and with similar physical and chemical characteristics, it is unusual that these lakes share a small number of common species of the few biological communities investigated so far (rotifers, benthic macroinvertebrates).…”