IX-th International Conference of Zoologists, 12-13 October 2016 207 SPECIES DIVERSITY OF THE DNIESTER RIVER ZOOPLANkTON COMMUNITIES IN 2013 – 2015 Olga Jurminskaia, Liubovi Lebedenco, Igor Subernetkii Institute of Zoology, Academy of Sciences of Moldova, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
[email protected] The aim of the work was to study the species diversity of zooplankton in the dif- ferent sectors of the Dniester River within the boundaries of the Republic of Moldova. Sampling of zooplankton was carried out in the littoral zone of the river at a depth of 1.0 – 1.5 m. A total of 99 quantitative zooplankton samples were collected seasonally during 2013 - 2015 by filtering 100 liters of water through a plankton net (mesh size 55 μm) at 11 stations of the Dniester River and Dubossary reservoir: Naslavcea, Valcinet, Soroca, Camenca (Dniester River, medial sector), Erjovo, Goiani, Cocieri (Dubossa- ry reservoir), Vadul lui Voda, Varnita, Suclea, Palanca (lower sector of the Dniester River). The main taxonomic groups of zooplankton (Rotatoria, Copepoda, Cladocera) have been identified according to Kutikova (1970), Kutikova & Starobogatov (1977), Negrea (1983), Naberejnyi (1984), Tsalolihin (1994) and Alekseev (1995) with using a stereo zoom Discovery V8 ZEISS and a microscope Micmed-2 LOMO. Species diversity (SD) is one of the most important characteristics of biotic com- munities that reflect the complexity of its specific structure. Presently more than 30 different indices are proposed for evaluation of various aspects of diversity. The sim- plest indicator of α-diversity (species richness) is the total number of taxa (W), but its value depends on the sample size and number of samples.