Abstract: As a consequence of the examination of the materials that were collected from 58 different localities between the years 1987-1998 in Turkish Thrace region (Edirne, Kirklareli, Tekirdag), total 28 Copepoda species were determined. The first records of the Thrace region are Paracyclops affinis, Paracyclops fimbriatus, Cyclops scutifer, Cyclops kolensis, Megacyclops (Acanthocyclops) gigas.
INTRODUCTION
The Copepoda species, which are one of the most important elements of the food chain in the aquatic environments form the inevitable food for fishes, show wide dispersion in all kinds of aquatic eco-systems.
The first comprehensive research on the Copepoda species, which lives in the inland waters of Turkey was carried out by Mann[1]. After that, Kiefer[2,3],Lindberg[4-6], Noodt[7], Margaritora and Cottarelli[8], Margaritora et al.[9], Gündüz[10,11], Güher[12] and Ustaoğlu et al.[13,14] performed researches in the various inland waters in different regions of Turkey.
Demirhindi[15], Ortak and Kirgiz[16] study in Turkish Thrace region in Gala lake (Edirne), Güher and Kirgiz[17] worked in 49 localities taking part within the boundaries of Edirne province, Güher[18] performed in Mert, Erikli, Hamam and Pedina (Kirklareli) lakes on Copepoda. There is no research in Tekirdağ province. These researches remain insufficient and very limited with some certain areas. In order to determine the fauna of Copepoda of Thrace region which shelters lots of fresh water eco-systems.
Turkish Thrace is one of the increasingly polluted regions with the aquatic eco-systems under the influence of industrialisation, modernisation in agriculture and rapid urbanisation. As a result the wetlands for some very important species inland are being gradually narrowed.
The purpose of this research is to determine the species, which are under the danger of extinction studying on the unknown sections in the region so far and to make contributions to the studies of clarification of Copepoda fauna of Turkey.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The samples were collected from 58 localities (Fig. 1) in Turkish Thrace (except Istanbul and Çanakkale provinces) between 1987-1998. The sampling dates and localities are given in numerical order in Table 1.
| Fig. 1: | Sampling localities in the study area (in numerical order) |
| Table 1: | Sampling localities and identification numbers according to sampling date (types of water sources are indicated in parentheses) |
The most attention for choosing the sampling localities was paid to the areas that are not involved in previous works but cover the region[17,18].
Materials were collected with several plankton nets (the cell diameter of 55 μm) fixed in 70% alcohol. The identification methods for the materials were obtained from Margaritora et al.[9], Dussart[19,20], Kiefer[21], Apostolov and Marinov[22].
The species that were identified during the present study are given according to localities and to provinces.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
In the research, 28 species were determined as 22 from Cyclopoida, 4 from Calanoida, 2 from Harpacticoida orders. These species and their distribution according to the provinces (Table 2).
Subclass: CopepodaOrder:
CyclopoidaFamily:
Cyclopidae (Sars, 1913)
Subfamily: Eucyclopinae (Kiefer, 1927)
1)Species: Macrocyclops albidus (Jurine, 1820)
Distribution in Turkish Thrace: 3, 4, 8, 10, 15, 21, 36, 53, 54, 55, 56.
2)Species: Macrocyclops fuscus (Jurine, 1820)
Distribution in Turkish Thrace: 3, 4, 8, 27.
3)Species: Ectocyclops phaleratus (Koch, 1838)
Distribution in Turkish Thrace: 21, 22, 24, 32.
4)Species: Eucyclops speratus (Lilljeborg, 1901)
Distribution in Turkish Thrace: 2, 4, 22, 28, 35, 40, 41, 42, 45, 46, 48, 53.
5)Species: Eucyclops serrulatus (Fischer, 1851)
Distribution in Turkish Thrace: 1, 2, 3, 4, 11, 13, 14, 17, 21, 25, 28, 29, 31, 33, 35, 36, 38, 40, 41, 44, 45, 46, 48, 50, 53, 56, 57.
6)Species: Eucyclops macruroides (Lilljeborg, 1901)
Distribution in Turkish Thrace: 5.
7)Species: Eucyclops macrurus (Sars, 1863)
Distribution in Turkish Thrace: 37.
8)Species: Paracyclops affinis (Sars, 1863)
Distribution in Turkish Thrace: 24, 53.
9)Species: Paracyclops fimbriatus (Fischer, 1853)
Distribution in Turkish Thrace: 11, 12, 25, 35.
10)Species: Tropocyclops prasinus (Fischer, 1860)
Distribution in Turkish Thrace: 31, 53.
Subfamily: Cyclopinae (Kiefer, 1927)
11) Species: Cyclops vicinus (Uljanin, 1875)
Distribution in Turkish Thrace: 13, 19, 24, 28, 30, 37, 42, 47, 57.
12)Species: Cyclops strenuus (Fischer, 1851)
Distribution in Turkish Thrace: 39.
13)Species: Cyclops scutifer (Sars, 1863)
Distribution in Turkish Thrace: 4, 26.
14)Species: Cyclops kolensis (Lilljeborg, 1901)
Distribution in Turkish Thrace: 24.
| Table 2: | Distribution of the species according to provinces (E: Edirne, K: Kirklareli, T: Tekirdağ) |
15)Species: Cyclops abyssorum (Sars, 1863)
Distribution in Turkish Thrace: 26, 27, 30, 42, 47.
16)Species: Acanthocyclops robustus (Sars, 1863)
Distribution in Turkish Thrace: 2, 12, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 27, 29, 34, 36, 44, 47, 51, 58.
17)Species: Acanthocyclops venustus (Norman et Scott, 1906)
Distribution in Turkish Thrace: 5, 12, 21, 22, 27, 31, 36, 39, 42, 43, 49.
18)Species: Megacyclops (Acanthocyclops) viridis (Jurine, 1820)
Distribution in Turkish Thrace: 6, 8, 16, 18, 20, 21, 22, 38, 39, 42, 51, 52, 53, 55.
19)Species: Megacyclops (Acanthocyclops) gigas (Claus, 1857)
Distribution in Turkish Thrace: 6, 39.
20)Species: Diacyclops bicuspidatus (Claus, 1857)
Distribution in Turkish Thrace: 6, 9, 12, 26, 29, 49.
21)Species: Mesocyclops leuckarti (Claus, 1857)
Distribution in Turkish Thrace: 7.
22)Species: Thermocyclops crassus (Fischer, 1853)
Distribution in Turkish Thrace: 49.
Order: CalanoidaFamily:
Pseudodiaptomidae (Sars, 1903)
23)Species: Calanipeda aquedulcis Kritschagin, 1873
Distribution in Turkish Thrace: 22, 23, 43.
Family: Diaptomidae (Sars, 1903)
Subfamily: Diaptominae (Kiefer, 1932)
24)Species: Arctodiaptomus wierzejskii (Richard, 1888)
Distribution in Turkish Thrace: 26, 34, 37.
25)Species: Mixodiaptomus kupelwieseri (Brehm, 1907)
Distribution in Turkish Thrace: 58.
Family: Temoridae (Sars, 1903)
26)Species: Eurytemora velox (Lilljeborg, 1853)
Distribution in Turkish Thrace: 6, 7.
Order: Harpacticoida
Family: Canthocamptidae (Sars, 1906)
27)Species: Cantocamptus microstaphylinus Wolf, 1905
Distribution in Turkish Thrace: 13.
Family: Ameiridae (Monard, 1927 and Lang, 1936)
28)Species: Nitocra hibernica (Brady, 1880)
Distribution in Turkish Thrace: 21, 24, 34, 43.
DISCUSSION
Twenty eight species of Copepoda were found as a result of the examination of the materials that were collected from 58 localities including the lakes, ponds, rivers and water heaps in Thrace region. While these species are distributed among lots of aquatic ecosystems in Turkey, Paracyclops affinis, Paracyclops fimbriatus, Cyclops scutifer, Cyclops kolensis, Megacyclops (Acanthocyclops) gigas were firstly recorded in Thrace region. The most widely found species in the region is Eucyclop serrulatus and it is followed by Acanthocyclops robustus, Acanthocyclops venustus, Eucyclops speratus. The most species were found in Kırklareli province with 21 species, foolowed by Tekirdağ with 19 species abd Edirne with 17 species, respectively (Table 2).
Twenty nine species were recorded as a consequence of the research. Together with the added new species, Copepoda fauna of the Thrace region is represented by 34 species.
All of the species, which are determined in this research, are known in Bulgaria as well. Because of this reason, we may say that Thrace Copepoda fauna possibly has the similar characteristic in the neighbouring[23].