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The Eastern Black Sea Region of Turkey is located in the Caucasus Ecoregion and is one of the richest regions of the world in terms of biodiversity. Black flies are an important part of the biodiversity of running waters in the region. To determine the Simuliidae fauna of this region and understand the relationships between species distribution and environmental variables, 41 sites, mostly unpolluted or slightly polluted, were sampled in July 2008 and June 2009. A total of 3309 simulids and 20 species were identified. The most frequent and the most abundant species were Simulium variegatum Meigen, 1818, Simulium bezzii Corti, 1914, and Simulium trifasciatum Curtis, 1839. Simulium costatum Friedrichs, 1920, Simulium argenteostriatum Strobl, 1898, Simulium angustipes Edwards, 1915, Simulium balcanicum Enderlein, 1924, and Simulium pseudequinum Seguy, 1921 were positively correlated with NO2–N, water temperature, and pH but negatively correlated with PO4–P and dissolved oxygen. Simulium argyreatum Meigen, 1838, S. variegatum, and S. trifasciatum were positively correlated with dissolved oxygen. Simulium ornatum Meigen, 1818 was negatively correlated with pH. Prosimulium tomosvaryi Enderlein, 1921, Simulium cryophilum Rubtsov, 1959, Simulium vernum Macquart, 1826, and Simulium hispaniola Grenier and Bertrand, 1954 were negatively correlated with electrical conductivity. The results indicate that black flies, like other benthic macroinvertebrates, also respond to changes in environmental conditions with changes in composition and distribution. We hope that our research will contribute to biomonitoring studies in the future. In this research, the distribution of black fly species and their relationships with environmental variables were investigated in various streams in the Eastern Black Sea Region. Since there are very few studies on the Simuliidae in the region, which is one of the biodiversity hotspots, our research findings will provide important contributions to biomonitoring and biodiversity conservation studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To describe the indicator potential of non-marine ostracods for lotic (streams) and lentic (lakes) habitats, 42 taxa (27 recent, 15 subfossil) were evaluated from 62 sampling sites in West-site of Turkey during May of 2018. Nannocandona faba is a new report for Turkey. A higher Shannon diversity value was reported for lakes (H′ = 2.16) than streams (H′ = 1.62) when they had equal number of species (17 spp.). SIMPER analysis showed 53.01% contribution of Psychrodromus olivaceus, Candona neglecta, Heterocypris incongruens and Stenocypria fischeri with a 96.72% difference between lakes and streams. Both TWINSPAN and Indicator Species Analysis revealed that P. olivaceus (p < 0.01) and S. ficheri (p < 0.05) were found to be candidate indicators for the lotic and lentic habitats, respectively. The first two axes of CCA explained 66.90% of the relationship between species and environmental variables when elevation, dissolved oxygen concentration and water temperature showed influential effects (p < 0.05) on the ordination of species. Species with reduced swimming setae (17 spp.) were ordinated relatively closer to the center of CCA. Results showed that ecological tolerances of species seemed to be more deterministic than morphological characters (e.g., swimming setae) on their habitat preferences. A broad knowledge of the morphological and ecological preferences of the species is needed to distinguish whether habitat is chosen by species due to its ecological needs or morphological characteristics. Studies providing information about the current ecological preferences of the species give the opportunity to understand the habitat of these species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1. This study was conducted at Kelkit Stream and its tributaries in June 2009. Kelkit Stream is located in the north-eastern of Turkey and it’s the biggest tributary ofYeşilırmak River.2. Benthic macro invertebrate samples were taking from eight sites. They were identified to genus level. Habitat preferences and stream zonation preferences of benthic macro invertebrate genera were also given.3. Cluster analysis, which is one of the most preferred classification methods, wasapplied to benthic macro invertebrate fauna and sites. Habitat and stream zonation preferences of the genera which was contained in groups and subgroups that were formed as a result of the analysis were compared. Also, dominant taxa at collecting sites were given.4. According to the result of the study, habitat quality of Kelkit Stream and its tributaries showed deteriorations at some sites. If these deteriorations continue in the future, there will be an inevitable decrease in the habitat quality of Kelkit Stream and its tributaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]