Diversity and abundance of littoral zooplanktonic communities of Pantanos de Villa wetland, Lima, Peru

Pantanos de Villa, is a coastal wetland conformed by several water bodies, permanent and seasonal. This ecosystem is internationally recognized as a RAMSAR site located in the south of the urban zone of Lima, Peru. In June 2004, October 2004 and April 2005, surveys of biodiversity and abundance of littoral zooplanktonic communities, representing to different permanent water bodies in 21 points of sampling in total were carried out. The samples of zooplancton were collected using a 75 μm of diameter plankton net and 120 mm of opening. The samples were preserved and fixed employing a solution of 4 % sweetened formalin. Some limnological parameters as dissolved oxygen (DO) (mg L^-1), transparency (cm), water temperature (T_water)(°C), air temperature (T_air)(°C) and maximum depth of each water body were determined. The results indicated the presence of 43 taxa, being abundant and frequent rotifers Brachionus calyciflorus (Pallas 1776) and Epiphanes sensa (Müller 1773), ostracoda, nematoda Rhabdolaimus terrestris de Mann, 1880 and the ciliate Vorticella campanula Ehrenberg, 1831. Number of organism•L^-1 was 337±80 and number of taxa by point of survey was 11.2±2.1. Significantly differences in DO, T_water and T_air between stations surveyed were found. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) indicated a component conformed by DO, T_water and T_air, and other formed by transparency and maximum depth. Finally, a valoration of alpha and beta diversity of zooplanktonic communities was performed in this aquatic ecosystem studied with the aim to propose guidelines for conservation.