Paleoecological analysis of chironomid assemblages of a mountain lake as a source of information for biomonitoring

The results of paleoecological analysis of chironomid remains in bottom sediments of a mountain lake exposed to atmospheric pollution with acidifying compounds and heavy metals are described. With consideration of the reconstructed chironomid assemblages, it is demonstrated that the course of natural lake ontogeny has been tending to change since the beginning of industrial development in the region. Chironomid taxa promising as indicators for biological monitoring are discussed.     

Relict Crustaceans under Conditions of Long-Term Pollution of Subarctic Lake Imandra: Results of Observations in 1930–1998

Changes in the role of relict crustaceans in the zoobenthic communities of large subarctic Lake Imandra are analyzed over the long period of economic development in its drainage area. To date, Mysis relicta as a species highly sensitive to anthropogenic pollution has apparently disappeared from the lake fauna. The currently recorded maximum values of Pontoporeia affinis abundance and biomass are more than 20 times as great as those between 1968 and 1986. As in other lakes with mass development of P. affinis, the populations of this crustacean inhibit chironomid larvae in the communities of Lake Imandra.