Journal of Siberian Federal University. Biology / The Effects of Artemia Cyst Harvesting on the Salt Lake Ecosystem

Full text (.pdf)
Issue
Journal of Siberian Federal University. Biology. 2020 13 (4)
Authors
Litvinenko, Liudmila I.; Litvinenko, Aleksander I.; Boyko, Elena G.; Kutsanov, Kirill V.; Korentovich, Marina A.
Contact information
Litvinenko, Liudmila I.: Tyumen Branch of FSBSI “VNIRO” (“Gosrybcentr”) Tyumen, Russian Federation; State Agrarian University of the Northern-Trans-Urals Tyumen, Russian Federation; ; ORCID: 0000-0002-8189-5226; Litvinenko, Aleksander I.: State Agrarian University of the Northern-Trans-Urals Tyumen, Russian Federation; Kutsanov, Kirill V.: Tyumen Branch of FSBSI “VNIRO” (“Gosrybcentr”) Tyumen, Russian Federation; ORCID: 0000-0002-0632-9283; Korentovich, Marina A.: State Agrarian University of the Northern-Trans-Urals Tyumen, Russian Federation
Keywords
Artemia; cysts; brine shrimp; phytoplankton; harvest; salt lakes
Abstract

In Russia, the main stocks of Artemia cysts and cyst harvesting activities are concentrated in Western Siberia. About 1,100 tons of cysts are harvested annually, including 180 tons in the Kurgan Region and 140 tons from Medvezhye Lake (about 2 % of their world harvest). The purpose of this study was to determine the degree of influence of Artemia cyst harvesting on the ecosystem of a salt lake in a case study of Medvezhye Lake. The main trophic components of the ecosystem – phytoplankton, zooplankton, and zoobenthos – were analyzed. The salinity of the brine of Medvezhye Lake varied between 110 and 320 g/dm3 in different years. Phytoplankton in the lake function throughout the year. They are characterized by small cell sizes, low biomass (0.76±0.24 mg/L) and daily production (1.03±0.18 mgO2/L or 0.3±0.05 gC/m2), and high levels of A/B and P/B coefficients. Zooplankton and zoobenthos are represented mainly by Artemia. The biomass of Artemia shrimp reached 21.9±3.2 mg/L (219 kg/ha) on average during 1995-2018. During this period, the stock of cysts formed annually in the lake was 114.5±14.3 kg/ha; the harvest was 23.7±3.0 kg/ha (21 % of the stock). The main components of the ecosystem – phytoplankton – Artemia shrimp – Artemia cysts – were produced annually in the following proportions: 8390:2678:115 kg/ha·year (75:24:1 %). The removal of 23.7 kg/ha of the cysts (0.22 % of the production of all components) from the lake is negligible compared to the other components of the ecosystem. The residual density of cysts after harvesting, which is necessary for the reproduction of the Artemia population for the next season during the 1st generation, is 10 kg/ha. Averaged data indicate that the amount of Artemia cysts left in the ecosystem of Medvezhye Lake after cyst harvesting is 91 kg/ha, i.e. 9 times greater than the minimum required density. The results reported in the present study indicate that the current level of cyst harvesting cannot have any significant impact on the ecosystem of the hypersaline lake

Pages
348–367
DOI
10.17516/1997-1389-0333
Paper at repository of SibFU
https://elib.sfu-kras.ru/handle/2311/137896

Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).