Distribution of rotifers of high mountain lakes in the Eastern Black Sea Range of Turkey

Six expeditions were conducted in 2005-2007 on the rotifer fauna 459 high mountain lakes of the Eastern Black Sea Range. All of the lakes are located a altitudes between 2530 and 3370 m except Uzungol (1100 m). A total of 63 rotifer taxa were identified. All of the taxa that were identified are new records for their localities except Notholca squamula and Cephalodella gibba. Dissotrocha rnacrostyla, Hexarthra jenkinae, Lecane clara, Lecane kluchor, and Lecane latissima arc new records for the Turkish inland water fauna. The trophic classification based on the orthophosphate includes 22 lakes as ultraoligotrophic and 37 lakes as oligotrophic; by Secchi depth, 20 lakes are ultraoligotrophic, 12 lakes oligotrophic, and 27 lakes mesotrophic. Rotifer species richness showed a decrease with altitude (20 species in Lake Uzungol with an altitude of 1100 in and 4 species in Lake Deniz with an altitude of 3370 in). We propose that 80% of the rotifer taxa were indicators of oligotrophic conditions and the remaining 20% were indicators of mesotrophic conditions.