On the relationship between the occurrence of ostracod species and elevation in Sakarya province, Turkey

Abstract

In order to determine the distribution of ostracods species between sea level and 1133 m a.s.l. in the Sakarya Province of Turkey, 83 different aquatic sites were randomly sampled during 9–12 May, 2014. This sampling yielded a total of 9598 individuals belonging to 33 taxa (31 living). The species Vestalenula cuneata and Kovalevskiella phreaticola were new reports for Turkey. The number of species with males (19) and without males (12) tends to decrease with increasing elevation while there is no significant difference in the number of species per site. This corresponds to a decrease in the numbers of species with (14) and without (17) natatory setae on second antennae (A2). Accordingly, presence of species with/without natatory setae on A2, with different reproductive modes, and numbers of species changed along with elevation seem to be all mutually independent in the population sampled. The first two axes of Canonical Correspondence Analysis explained 74.4% of relationships between species and environmental variables. Furthermore, two well-known cosmopolitan species (Heterocypris incongruens and Ilyocypris bradyi) were observed in almost all of the elevational ranges. Overall, these results support the prediction that elevation seems to have no direct influence on the presence of species with or without swimming setae in sexual or parthenogenetic populations. Results suggest that unlike non-cosmopolitan ostracods, species with cosmopolitan characteristics may not be limited by elevation.