Effects of environmental factors on species diversity of rotifers using biodiversity indicators and canonical correlation analysis (CCA)

Rotifers are microscopic aquatic animals of phylum Rotifera, live in a diverse range of aquatic habitats. They are important in ecology of freshwater ecosystems by recycling nutrients and can alter trophic dynamic of planktonic communities. These features have also been used to infer environmental conditions in an aquatic habitat. Because of the important roles of this group of animals in the trophic chains of aquatic environments and the need for discovering their biodiversity, this study was planned to analyze the patterns of rotifer community structure in response to temporal fluctuations in environmental variables in two water bodies in northwest Iran. Samples were collected seasonally between October 2014 and November 2015. Temperature, pH, DO, conductivity, salinity and rotifer abundance were measured. In total, 28 rotifer species belong to 10 families of phylum Rotifera were identified. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) was used to estimate the relationship between environmental variables and biodiversity of rotifer taxa. The clusters showed strong correlation with dissolved oxygen and electrical conductivity for shaping the rotifer assemblages in both reservoirs.