Distribution of the macrobenthos fauna in the Ola River basin, northern coast of the Sea of Okhotsk

The taxonomic composition of the macrobenthos fauna and its distribution in the main stream and tributaries of the mid-size salmon Ola River, the northern coast of the Sea of Okhotsk, were investigated for the first time. In the Ola River basin, 253 taxa of benthic invertebrates belonging to 3 phyla (Plathelminthes, Annelida, and Arthropoda) and 5 classes (Turbellaria, Clitellata, Crustacea, Arachnida, and Insecta) were revealed. Mayflies (Ephemeroptera), stoneflies (Plecoptera), caddisflies (Trichoptera), and midges (Chironomidae, Diptera) showed the highest species richness and dominated the benthic communities. Chironomidae comprised most of the fauna: 140 species and species groups, or more than 55% of the total diversity. The shares of identified species of mayflies, stoneflies, and caddisflies were subequal. Analysis of hydromorphological characteristics and the composition of aquatic insect families showed that all the areas surveyed in the Ola River basin were rhithral while the macrobenthos fauna represented there belonged to rhithron. The classification obtained by cluster analysis showed spatial heterogeneity in the distribution of the benthic fauna along the Ola River, related to changes in water temperature, slope, and altitude. The heterogeneous fauna distribution and the corresponding change in stable hydromorphological features indicated the existence of the typical epi-, meta-, and hyporhithral subzones whose boundaries were difficult to distinguish. However, the rhithral subzones selected were characterized by the habitat selectivity of certain taxa and by peculiar species richness values, thus emphasizing their individuality.