Salinisation effects on benthic invertebrate assemblages in shallow lakes in arid and semiarid climate zones.

Shallow lakes, including those located at the border between Europe and Asia (Kazakhstan), have become very prone to increasing salinity because of climate change. Most of the study area is in one of the fastest-warming parts of the globe. Our research, conducted in four lakes varying in water salinity level and located in western Kazakhstan in the steppe, semi-desert, and desert zones, can be used to predict biodiversity as indicators of the natural potential of ecosystems.

Turcogammarus aralensis (Uljanin, 1875), a relict pontogammarid amphipod crustacean from the Aralo-Caspian paleobasin: redescription, phylogenetic position and biogeography.

The Ponto-Caspian region harbours the world's second most diverse lacustrine radiation of amphipod crustaceans. The taxonomic position of some of these species is unclear, due to incorrectly defined species limits, poor descriptions, and in some cases, poorly understood characters, such as armament of dorsal integuments. A pertinent example is Turcogammarus aralensis (Uljanin, 1875), which inhabits the Aral Sea and adjacent water bodies like the brackish lake Shalkar (Charkhal), lower reaches of the Syr Darya and Volga, and extends ca.