Analysis of interaction between planktonic and benthic communities in saline rivers of the Elton region (Russia)

The results of the analysis of studies of saine rivers of the arid region of the Elton region (the area of the Caspian lowland, the basin of the hyperhaline Lake Elton) based on the study of plankton and bottom communities in August 2013 and 2018 are presented. For multidimensional statistical analysis, we used the results of processing hydrobiological samples taken at 13 stations of five saline rivers. A matrix of the numbers of 136 species and taxa, representatives of zooplankton, macrozoobenthos and meiobenthos was formed. To process the data, the values of the numerical matrices were transformed into a single score scale from 0 to 6 using the algorithm for finding optimal boundaries. The stations were grouped according to the level of water mineralization:1 - >25 g/l, 2 - 10-25 g/l and 3 -