Abundance and biomass of rotifers in relation to the environmental factors in geothermal waters in Southern Tunisia

Ikbel Sellami , Asma Hamza (1) , Mohammed Alaoui Mhamdi , Lotfi Aleya (2) , Abderrahmen Bouain (3) , Habib Ayadi (3)

1 Institut National des Sciences et Technologie de la Mer
2 LCE - Laboratoire Chrono-environnement (UMR 6249)
3 UR Biodiversité & Ecosystèmes Aquatiques

The spatial and temporal dynamics of rotifers in relation to the physico-chemical parameters in Fish- Culture Research Station (Southern Tunisia) were studied monthly from February 2005 to January 2006. Thirteen rotifer species were found: Brachionus urceolaris, Brachionus calyciflorus, Brachionus sp., Lecane stichaea, Lecane rhytida, Lecane sp., Hexarthra mira, Rotaria tardigrada, Conochiloides natans, Trichocerca marina, Keratella quadrata, Keratella cochlearis and Notommata codonella. The most dominant rotifer was B. urceolaris (76% of total abundance). Rotifer density and water temperature were negatively correlated (r ¼ 0.94, n ¼ 12, p ¼ 0.001). The highest abundance of rotifers was found in basin 4 (1.5105 indm3, in June 2005)

Mots clés: Fish-Culture Research Station Rotifers Physico-chemical parameters Temperature

Domaines: Biodiversité et Ecologie

Ikbel Sellami, Asma Hamza, Mohammed Alaoui Mhamdi, Lotfi Aleya, Abderrahmen Bouain, et al.. Abundance and biomass of rotifers in relation to the environmental factors in geothermal waters in Southern Tunisia. Journal of Thermal Biology, 2009, 34, pp.267-275. ⟨10.1016/j.jtherbio.2009.03.003⟩. ⟨hal-00485775⟩