Suppression of Artemia spp. (Crustacea, Anostraca) populations by predators in the Crimean hypersaline lakes: A review of the evidence

Abstract

Artemia spp. play a key role in hypersaline ecosystems. Artemia can live in a salinity range from 10 to 300-340 g/L, but in water bodies where salinity is between 10 and 100 g/L, it may be absent. Is the absence of Artemia in some Crimean lakes determined by the presence of predators or by salinity? To answer this question field long-term and experimental data collected in the Crimean lakes were used. With the least probability, the populations of Artemia existed in the lakes with a salinity of up to 50 g/L or above 300 g/L. Self-reproducing Artemia populations (all age stages) were most likely (≥80% of occurrence) noted in the salinity range of 150-200 g/L. Longterm monitoring in two lakes showed that in different years, a significant negative correlation of Artemia abundance with the numbers of amphipod Gammarus aequicauda and ostracod Eucypris mareotica was found in both lakes. This correlation can be explained by ostracod and amphipod predation on Artemia. In years without predator populations, the number of Artemia was higher by several times.Experiments showed that these amphipods and ostracods consume brine shrimps of different developmental stages. There are at least 12 crustacean species, 5 insect species, and 2 fish species, all listed in this paper, which inhabit Crimean hypersaline waters and can eat Artemia. Their predation on Artemia often is a main cause of its absence in the salinity range from 10 to 150 g/L.

The long‐term changes in plankton composition: Is Bay Sivash transforming back into one of the world's largest habitats ofArtemiasp. (Crustacea, Anostraca)?

“…As shown previously, normal development of Artemia can occur at salinities above 5–15 g/L (Gajardo & Beardmore, ; Kristensen & Hulscher‐Emeis, ; Mirzoyeva, Anufriieva, & Shadrin, ; Vanhaecke, Siddall, & Sorgeloos, ). However, the formation of Artemia populations rarely occurs at salinities below 60–90 g/L, as the presence of predators suppresses the formation of self‐sustaining Artemia populations at these salinities (Hammer & Hurlbert, ; Kristensen & Hulscher‐Emeis, ; Shadrin, Yakovenko, & Anufriieva, ; Sultana et al, ; Wurtsbaugh, ). In the Crimean saline waters, there is a wide variety of invertebrates and three species of fish, including those first found in this study A. hepsetus , that inhabit hypersaline waters and are able to eat nauplii and/or adult Artemia (Shadrin, Yakovenko, et al, ).…”

Andean hypersaline lakes in the Atacama Desert, northern Chile: Between lithium exploitation and unique biodiversity conservation

“…This means that salinity changes affecting the gut microbial communities would very likely affect Artemia survival and reproduction. Different copepods species also control Artemia abundance, at lower or high salinities (Anufriieva, 2015), as reported by the long-term studies of salt lakes in Crimea, Ukraine (Belmonte et al, 2012;Shadrin, Yakovenko, & Anufriieva, 2019) as well as waterbirds, as explained previously for GSL, and parasites (Redón, Amat, Sánchez, & Green, 2015). Thus, any change in salinity or other brine parameters should affect the whole food web.…”

“…Such knowledge is required to implement integral management and conservation measures to mitigate adverse anthropogenic or climate impacts ( Figure 2). Different copepods species also control Artemia abundance, at lower or high salinities (Anufriieva, 2015), as reported by the long-term studies of salt lakes in Crimea, Ukraine (Belmonte et al, 2012;Shadrin, Yakovenko, & Anufriieva, 2019) as well as waterbirds, as explained previously for GSL, and parasites (Redón, Amat, Sánchez, & Green, 2015). The role of Artemia becomes relevant in the food web as the animal regulates the presence of other food items, for example, it grazes on bacteria and phytoplankton biomass to obtain energy and nutrients to complete its life cycle under the stringent conditions that challenge survival and reproduction.…”

“…While some species feed on Artemia, others have a bill adapted to feed a range of small organisms found in shallow waters. Thus, brine shrimp presence and abundance in a given brine depend on waterbirds and the interaction with many other species or regulators, including other invertebrates (Anufriieva, 2015;Shadrin et al, 2019) and parasites (Redón et al, 2015). Therefore, long-term monitoring of the crustacean Artemia should help to get a more comprehensive picture of the ecosystem dynamics considering its crucial role in the trophic ecology of these lagoons as well as to predict F I G U R E 2 A conceptual framework for conserving hypersaline lagoons and waterbird habitat in Salar de Atacama in a scenario of increasing lithium exploitation from brine and climate change cascading effects at different trophic levels.…”

“…Flamingos are long-distance Artemia dispersers commonly found in the Andean Altiplano feeding or breeding (Hurlbert, 1982;Hurlbert et al, 1984;Hurlbert & Keith, 1979). Thus, brine shrimp presence and abundance in a given brine depend on waterbirds and the interaction with many other species or regulators, including other invertebrates (Anufriieva, 2015;Shadrin et al, 2019) and parasites (Redón et al, 2015). The crustacean is, therefore, an indicator of habitat degradation, one of the main causes of biodiversity loss in Artemia in the western Mediterranean (Amat, Hontoria, Navarro, Vieira, & Mura, 2007), and is a probable predictor of waterbirds presence and reproduction.…”