A research on seasonal changes of zooplankton in Tigris river

In this study carried out between February 2008 and January 2009, zooplankton and physio-chemical structures of Dicle River, Kralkızı Dam Lake and Dicle Dam Lake were investigated. In the light of the qualitative studies, 137 Rotifera species, 18 Cladocera species and 4 Copepoda species that?s totally 159 zooplanktonic species were identified. 27 of these species, (Plationus patulus (Müller), Stephanoceros fimbriautus Ehrenberg, 1832, Octotrocha speciosa Thorpe, 1893, Lecane margalefi De Manuel, Lecane aspasia Myers, Lecane decipiens (Murray), Lecane thienemanni (Hauer), Proales sigmoidea (Skorikov), Resticula melandocus (Gosse), Notommata aurita (O.F.Müller), Notommata glyfura Wulfert, Notommata pseudocerberus Beauchamp, Cephalodella forficata (Ehrenberg), Cephalodella hollowdayi Koste, Cephalodella hoodii (Gosse), Cephalodella misgurnus Wulfert, Cephalodella theodora Kock-Althaus, Cephalodella ungulata Fischer & Ahlrichs, Trichocerca bicristata (Gosse), Trichocerca insignis (Herrick), Synchaeta kitina Rousselet, Dicranophorus aspondus Harring & Myers, Encentrum incisum Wulfert, Encentrum martes Wulfert, Collotheca companulata (Dobie), Aspelta angusta Harring & Myers ve Aspelta curvidactyla Berzins) are new records for Turkish zooplankton fauna. In terms of species compositions, Rotifera is dominant group (86%), followed by Cladocera (11%) and Copepoda (%3) groups. As a result of the quantitative analyses, Rotifera group was observed dominant in both of Dams Lakes. Although, in point of physio-chemical parameters, a significant pollution in Kralkızı and Dicle Dams Lakes was not observed, it was detected that there was a serious pollution from Diyarbakır city center to Cizre in the down parts of Dicle River which is come from settlements and agricultural effects.Keywords: Rotifera, Cladocera, Copepoda, Water quality, Tigris River, Kralkızı Dam Lake, Dicle Dam Lake