Evidence of the Anthropic Impact on a Crustacean Zooplankton Community in Two North Patagonian Lakes
Evidence of the Anthropic Impact on a Crustacean Zooplankton Community in Two North Patagonian Lakes
Authors
Norambuena, Juan Alejandro
Poblete Grant, Patricia
Beltran, Jorge F.
De los Rios Escalante, Patricio
Farias, Jorge G.
Poblete Grant, Patricia
Beltran, Jorge F.
De los Rios Escalante, Patricio
Farias, Jorge G.
Profesor GuĆa
Authors
Date
Datos de publicaciĆ³n:
10.3390/su14106052
SUSTAINABILITY,Vol.14,2022
SUSTAINABILITY,Vol.14,2022
Tipo de recurso
Article
Keywords
Materia geogrƔfica
Collections
Abstract
Lately, agriculture, livestock, forestry, and aquaculture activities have been greatly developed in Chilean North Patagonia, negatively impacting the balance of the environmental conditions in lakes and affecting the development and survival of several native species. The aim of this study was to assess the anthropic impact on a zooplankton community in two North Patagonian lakes. We collected samples from four sites belonging to Lake Icalma and Lake Llanquihue, including four replicates per site. Water samples were analyzed for physicochemical characteristics and zooplankton communities. We focused on the presence of Daphnia pulex, a species of zooplanktonic crustacean that performs a key role in capturing energy from primary producers to deliver it to final consumers such as fish. We found that Llanquihue showed higher total phosphorus, nitrogen, copper, iron, manganese, total dissolved solids (TDS), and conductivity (EC) than Icalma. Furthermore, ecological variables were greatly decreased due to total P, total N, manganese, copper, total dissolved solids, and conductivity, which changed the species dominance of the zooplankton community in Llanquihue, indicating some degree of anthropization. This study provides fundamental information on the anthropogenic impact on water quality, as well as on zooplankton diversity, highlighting the importance of monitoring the health of these North Patagonia freshwater ecosystems.