Spring macrobenthos communities of the Moscow province

M. Y. Chertoprud

M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of Biology, Department of Hydrobiology
Leninskiye Gory, Moscow 119992, Russia
e-mail: lymnaea@yandex.ru

Macrozoobenthos communities are described based on material from 70 springs and spring brooks of the Moscow province. The communities include 587 taxa of various origins: 27 rheophiles, 11 crenobionts, 10 ubiquists of small water bodies, and 3 limnophiles. Rheophile species predominate in diversity (52%) and total abundance (41.5%). Crenobionts include Beraea pullata, B. maura, Crunoecia irrorata, Apatania zonella, Parachiona picicornis, Potamophylax nigrocornis, Oxycera pseudoamoena, О. гага, О. pardalina, Pedicia rivosa, Thaumalea testacea; six of these are recorded in the region for the first time. Four types of spring communities are recognized in the region according to the Braun-Blanquet method: with predominant Rhyacophila fasciata and Baetis rhodani (macrorheocrenes), Potamophylax nigroicornis (microrheocrenes), Nemurella pictetii (limnocrenes), and Parachiona picicornis (helocrenes). Three of them are confined to water bodies of different size and flow velocity; one (N. pictetii) is linked to weakly flowing silted wated bodies. Change of spring communities is often observed also downstream due to the distance from the opening of the spring. The structure of rheocrene communities is most similar to that of brooks that are significantly larger than the rheocrenes. Limnocrenes and helocrenes communities have no counterparts among communities of other types of water bodies. Some of the specific traits of spring communities fit the island theory and can be explained by it. Comparison of the studied communities with those of springs of Sweden and England reveals wide variance of the general faunistic composition of the communities with a rather stable assortmeont of troglobiot species.