Comparison Resource of Artemia (Crustacea: Anostraca) in the Urmia Lake in rainy (1995) and drought (2003) years
Alireza Asem1,2*, Araz Mahmoodi2 and Hamed Asem3
1) Protectors of Urmia Lake National Park Society (NGO), Urmia, Iran
2) West Bio-Processor Inc., Urmia, Iran
3) Boland Payeh Co., Tehran, Iran
Summary:
Urmia Lake is the largest Artemia habitat in the world. During eight years its average salinity increased from 169 ppt in 1995 to 275 ppt in 2003. There are two invaluable studies on Artemia resources in Urmia Lake; 1995 (rainy year) and 2003 (drought year). The average production of Artemia cysts was almost 4400 ton/year in the top 0.5 meter of the entire lake during 1995, while there were 29 cysts/liter in top 0.5 meter of the entire lake during 2003. The data from these two studies are incommensurable. With satellite imagery, we determined the area of Urmia Lake in November 2003 to be 4304 km 2 so data from the two studies could be compared. Our calculations indicate 4400 ton cyst produced in 1995 is equivalent to 399 cysts/liter and the 29 cysts/liter measured in 2003 to be equal to 250 ton cyst in the top 0.5 meter of entire lake. Thus, Artemia urmiana cyst production per liter has decreased 14-fold from 1995 to 2003 while the total resource has decreased by 18 times as much.
