Contribution to the ecology of freshwater ostracodes (Crustacea) in the Patagonia

VIEHBERG, F.,; CUSMINSKY, G; WROZYNA, C; PÉREZ, L; SCHWALB, A

San Carlos de Bariloche

Congreso; IV Congreso Argentino de Limnología; 2008

Universidad Nacional del Comahue/INIBIOMA

Ostracods from aquatic habitats in Patagonia have been successfully used as paleonvironmental indicator. However, the taxonoy and ecology of this group is still limited. Thus, we used our samples from 41 sites in Patagonia: Laguan Cari-Laufquen area (41º41º30´S and 68º-69W) and Lago Cardiel area (48º-491S and 70º-71ºW). Water samples werw taken from each site and analyzed for temperature (ºC), pH, Ca (mgL-1), Na(mgL-1), K(mgL-1); Mg (MgL-1), CL (mgL-1), SO4 (mgL-1) and conductivity (uScm-1). The surface sediment samples were checked for adult individuals of freshwater ostracodes were identified and enumerated. We applied multivariate statistics to our calibration dataset, which suggests that conductivity in the dominant factor in the freshwater ostacodes distribution  withind our dataset. A regression model (e. g. weighted average) can now be applied to infere quantitatively conductivity based on (fossil) ostracode assemblages.