Investigation of zooplankton fauna in water wells of Yayladagi District (Hatay, Turkey)

In this study, water quality parameters and zooplankton fauna were investigated from 14 different water wells in Yayladagi District of Hatay Province. The study was conducted seasonally between October 2015 and July 2016. A total of 51 species were identified, including 30 species of rotifers, 9 species of cladocerans, and 12 species of copepods. The most abundant species, Keratella cochlearis, Bosmina longirostris, and Tropocyclops prasinus, were found in 11, 13, and 12 wells, respectively. However, species such as Cephalodella catellina, Cephalodella ventripes, Filinia longiseta, Lecane lunaris, L. pumila, Lophocharis salpina, Mytilina unguipes, Platyias quadricornis, Trichocerca tigris, Ceriodaphnia pulchella, Diaphanosoma birgei, Alona guttata, Leydigia acanthocercoides, Simocephalus vetulus, Cyclops vicinus, Bryocamptus zschokkei, Diacyclops bicuspidatus, Canthocamptus microstaphylinus, and Nitocra hibernica were each observed in only one well. The highest abundance of species was found in Well 1 with 22 species, followed by Well 14 with 19 species and Well 4 with 18 species. Only 4 species were found in Well 10. At the end of this study, the most abundant species, Synchaeta stylata, Keratella quadrata, Bosmina longirostris, Tropocyclops prasinus, and Eudiaptomus drieschi, were observed in Wells 1-3, 1, 4, 3-10, and 1-4, respectively. The monogonont rotifer Lecane pumila, collected from Well 4 (Yayladagi, Hatay), was reported for the first time from Turkish inland waters.