TAXONOMIC COMPOSITION OF AQUATIC INVERTEBRATES OF DIFFERENT WATER BODIES OF THE CHORNOBYL RESERVE

Abstract

The Chernobyl Radiation and Ecological Biosphere Reserves territory, established in 2016, includes many water bodies of various types. These are rivers, forest and floodplain lakes, anthropogenic objects – ponds and melioration channels in varying degrees of degradation. In previous years, the main hydrobiological studies were conducted on the cooling pond of the Chernobyl NPP since the beginning of its creation. After the accident at the Chernobyl NPP, considerable attention was paid to radioecological studies of water bodies of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. The first studies of zoobenthos and zooperiphyton of the lakes of the left-bank floodplain of the Pripyat River were started in 2016. Hydrobiological studies of most other water bodies had not been conducted before. Hydrobiological studies of the water bodies of the reserve, in particular zoobenthos and zooperiphyton, were started in 2024. The main attention was paid to community of the zoobenthos and periphyton on vascular plants, on hard substrates, including anthropogenic ones. Invertebrates were defined to the lowest identifiable taxon (LIT). The total list of invertebrates of the studied water bodies is quite significant – 92 LIT from 20 taxonomic groups, with the dominance of larvae of Chironomidae (28 LIT) and Oligochaeta (17 LIT). The lists of LIT for several water bodies are quite original. The main number of LIT are inhabitants of shallow water areas of water bodies overgrown with vascular plants, with a reduced flow velocity. The richest was the macrofauna of rivers. In the shallow rapids of the Uzh River, single specimens of large mollusks Unionidae were recorded. The taxonomic composition of epiphytic invertebrates of one species of vascular plants (Stratiotes aloides L.) differed significantly in two lakes of the reserve (Vyunove and Plyutovysche). The general list of LIT includes species with a certain conservation status.