Stream zoobenthos under extreme conditions in the high Andean plateau of Argentina (South America)

Diversidad de Chironomidae (Diptera) en ambientes extremos (Salar de Olaroz, Desierto de Puna, Argentina)

“…The environmental variability of the three tributaries of the Salar de Olaroz determines the spatial and temporal distribution of the Chironomidae assemblage, as was also highlighted by Rodrigues Capítulo et al (2014) in their study of this salar, and Scheibler et al (2014) The greater richness that we find is surely due to the greater sampling effort, including 4 seasons for three consecutive years. We do not attribute this difference to the sampler used (Ekman dredge in the cited work), since the core we used is also a sediment sampler.…”

“…The salt flats are endorheic systems fed by streams, rivers and vegas (humid areas with water-saturated soils), whose fauna is little known. In general, small crustaceans dominate lotic communities (e.g., Ostracoda, Amphipoda), and among insects, Diptera, especially Chironomidae, stand out (Rodrigues Capítulo et al 2014;Nieto et al 2016).…”

“…Rosario stream does not present aquatic vegetation and there are few grasslands in the riverbank (Figure 2e-f). Additional descriptions can be found in Rodrigues Capítulo et al (2014).…”

A new species of Hyalella (Crustacea, Amphipoda, Hyalellidae) from the Puna biogeographic province in Argentina

“…This sub-basin belongs to the “Cuenca Cerrada de la Puna” basin (Nieto et al 2016). The benthic fauna of the Puna wetlands in Argentina and Chile consists mostly of undetermined Hyalella species (Scott et al 2015, Rodrigues Capítulo et al 2014, Nieto et al 2016). In these high Andean wetlands, the macroinvertebrate communities have varying tolerances to different ranges of salinities.…”

“…In these high Andean wetlands, the macroinvertebrate communities have varying tolerances to different ranges of salinities. Electric conductivity was the second main characteristic associated to compositional changes of the benthic macroinvertebrate communities (Nieto et al 2017); thus, decreases in the abundance, taxonomic richness, and diversity of various zoobenthic taxa have been attributed to an increase of salinity and conductivity (Rodrigues Capítulo et al 2014). However, the data reported for physicochemical parameters here (Pozuelos basin, FML-CRUST 01200) and in previous studies of Puna wetlands from northwestern Argentina (Scott et al 2015; Rodrigues Capítulo et al 2014; Nieto et al 2016) have shown that Hyalella species are generally more tolerant to greater salinity and conductivity levels (191.15 to 2,203 μS/cm approx.)…”