Article

Sergei V. Krylenko, PhD Student, Lomonosov Moscow State University (Leninskie Gory, 1/12, Moscow, 119991, Russia). iD ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0411-8455; e-mail: krylenkoserg@mail.ru
Anastasiya I. Lukinykh, PhD Student, Lomonosov Moscow State University (Leninskie Gory, 1/12, Moscow, 119991, Russia). iD ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3045-2441; e-mail: lukinyh.anastasiya@yandex.ru
Elena S. Chertoprud, PhD, Senior Researcher, A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the RAS (Leninsky Pr., 33, Moscow, 119071, Russia). iD ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9874-1610; e-mail: horsax@yandex.ru

Krylenko S.V., Lukinykh A.I., Chertoprud E.S. 2026. Macroinvertebrates of Arctic lakes from Kolguev Island (Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Russia): fauna and driving factors of assemblage diversity. Nature Conservation Research 11(4). https://dx.doi.org/10.24189/ncr.2026.026

Electronic Supplement 1. The list of recorded taxa and characteristics of thermokarst lakes in the central part of Kolguev Island based on research conducted in 2017–2018 (Link)

This article analyses the composition and characteristics of aquatic benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages in thermokarst lakes in the central part of Kolguev Island in the Kolguev State Nature Sanctuary (Russia) based on material from 2017 and 2018. A complete list of 149 identified taxa of macrozoobenthos is provided. More than half of the species richness consisted of representatives of the order Diptera (51%), with the second-largest taxon Coleoptera in terms of species number (17%). A comparison with the composition of nearby mainland territories revealed a significant depletion of species composition, primarily associated with island isolation and a more northern location. Distance-based Redundancy Analysis (dbRDA) ordination was used to estimate the proportion of macrozoobenthos distribution explained by the factors considered in the study (geographical location, morphometric characteristics of the lake, substrate, hydrochemical parameters, temperature, and sampling time). All these factors contributed significantly, collectively explaining approximately one-third of the variability in macrozoobenthos distribution. The main explanatory factors were substrate (18.3%), as well as lake geographic location, lake morphometric characteristics, and pH. Based on dbRDA ordination, three types of statistically significant assemblages inhabiting different types of substrates (silty sediments, macrophyte thickets, and the coastal edge of the water bodies) were identified. For each assemblage type, dominants and indicator taxa were identified, and the average abundance and biomass values were determined.

aquatic invertebrates, biotopes, environmental factors, substrate type, thermokarst lakes

Received: 18.12.2025. Revised: 06.04.2026. Accepted: 08.05.2026.

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