Ecological Factors Affecting Distribution of the Aquatic Beetles (Coleoptera: Hydrophilidae, Helophoridae) of Beyşehir Lake and Adjacent Areas in Turkey

Abstract

Ecological data has a great importance for species distribution of whole aquatic systems. The aims of this study are determined to estimate the effects of various parameters (water temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, electrical conductivity, salinity) on habitat preferences of Hydrophilidae and Helophoridae (Coleoptera) which were collected from Beyşehir Lake and surrounding areas in Konya province, Turkey. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to determine which environmental factors are effective in the habitat preferences. According to the two first axes of the PCA analysis explained 59.5% of variation among sites in relation to their environmental features and pH, water temperature, electrical conductivity and salinity are the main water parameters associated with aquatic beetle distribution. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) revealed that the important physicochemical attributes of the species distribution were pH, electrical conductivity, and water temperature and CCA analyzes showed that the physicochemical parameters of water are directly related to the distribution of insects.