Egg banks in hypersaline lakes of the South-East Europe
Salvatore Moscatello and Genuario Belmont
Laboratory
of Zoogeography and Fauna, Department of Biological and Environmental
Sciences and Technologies, University of Salento, Via Prov.le
Lecce-Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Saline Systems 2009,
5:3doi:10.1186/1746-1448-5-3.
Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.
Abstract
The
cyst banks of 6 coastal hypersaline lakes of South-East Europe have
been investigated. The study concerned the bottom sediments of
Khersonesskoe and Koyashskoe lakes in the Crimea (Ukraine), Nartë
saltworks (Albania), Vecchia Salina at Torre Colimena (Apulia, Italy),
Pantano Grande and Pantano Roveto at Vendicari (Sicily, Italy). A total
of 19 cyst types were recognised. The cyst banks of lakes were found to
be well separated in the representation derived from a statistical
multivariate data analysis. For all the lakes examined a comparison was
possible between the resting community in sediments (cyst bank) and the
active one in the water. The cyst banks contained more species than
those recorded over a multi-year sampling effort in the water column.
The study of cyst hatching, performed on 5 cyst types under lab
conditions, demonstrated that cysts do not hatch under the same
conditions. Furthermore, each cyst type shows a wide range of
preferential hatching conditions, which allow us to confirm the
ecological generalism of salt lake species.
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