Invertebrates in overlooked aquatic ecosystem in the middle of the town

Abstract

Background and Purpose: Fountains are common, but usually overlooked anthrotelmata to which just only little attention has been paid. This work brings the first, more comprehensive evidence about seasonal urban fountain ecosystems and their biodiversity in Prešov town (Slovakia).

Materials and Methods: The biodiversity of aquatic organisms from 6 fountains in Prešov town (Slovakia) were studied and basic environmental characteristics, such as pH, temperature, oxygen saturation and electrical conductivity (25 °C), were measured in 2014. Water depth of studied fountains varied between 10–30 cm and water volume from 1.9 to 51 m³. For statistical evaluation was used Friedman’s Rank Sum test (Friedman 1937), non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test (Kruskal & Wallis 1952) and Spearman’s correlation coefficient. Cluster analysis of the abundance, based on the Euclidean distance and the paired group algorithm in PAST 2.17c (Hammer et al. 2001) was used to highlight the relationship among the taxa.

Results and Conclusion: During initial research was found over 58 taxa of the phyla Rotifera, Nematoda and Arthropoda. The most abundant insect group from these habitats was the Diptera order. The species Zavrelimyia nubila (Diptera: Chrinomidae) is recorded in Slovakia for the first time. The abundance of evaluated insects taxa differed depending on the date, but also was influenced by water characteristics. Water volume and water depth negatively but not significantly correlated with abundance of all evaluated orders. Water pH showed positive significant correlation with abundance of beetles, and negative, but not significant, correlation with abundance of flies and mayflies.