Biodiversity of the Hypersaline Urmia Lake National Park (NW Iran)

: Urmia Lake, with a surface area between 4000 to 6000 km 2 , is a hypersaline lake located in northwest Iran. It is the saltiest large lake in the world that supports life. Urmia Lake National Park is the home of an almost endemic crustacean species known as the brine shrimp, Artemia urmiana . Other forms of life include several species of algae, bacteria, microfungi, plants, birds, reptiles, amphibians and mammals. As a consequence of this unique biodiversity, this lake has been selected as one of the 59 biosphere reserves by UNESCO. This paper provides a comprehensive species checklist that needs to be updated by additional research in the future.


Background
Lake Urmia (37 ˝42 1 N, 45 ˝19 1 E) is one of the largest hypersaline lakes in the world and the habitat of a unique bisexual Artemia urmiana and some rare species (Figure 1).Our 2014 article in diversity entitle Biodiversity of the hypersaline Urmia Lake National Park (NW Iran) covered most of the reported species from this national park [1].This paper updates and extends previous checklist for foraminifers, archaebacteria and bacteria, microfungi, lichen, phytoplankton, nematodes, apicomplexa, flatworms, arthropods, birds, reptiles and several fossils.In the present update, we have included additional new information on the biodiversity of Urmia Lake which were not included in the previous article due to newly published articles and unavailability of old articles in the web.Urmia Lake has been subject to the drastic ecological and hydrological events which caused a rapid decline of population density of some of the valuable organisms such as brine shrimp Artemia.We believe that the current check list would enable us to deeply understand the rich biodiversity of Urmia Lake and subsequently design an integrated environmental guideline to protect living animals against environmental tensions.

Archaebacteria and Bacteria
Urmia Lake harbours a rich collection of archaebacteria and bacteria.They play a major role in the food chain of Urmia Lake ecosystem.Table 1 includes the updated list of archaebacterial and bacterial species in the water, soil and mud of Urmia Lake.

Microfungi
Fungi are cosmopolitan eukaryotic organisms which have worldwide distribution, inhabiting diverse extreme ecotypes from deserts to hypersaline environments.The present update lists 20 species of hyphomycetes fungi explored in soils of the National Park of Urmia Lake (Table 2).

Archaebacteria and Bacteria
Urmia Lake harbours a rich collection of archaebacteria and bacteria.They play a major role in the food chain of Urmia Lake ecosystem.Table 1 includes the updated list of archaebacterial and bacterial species in the water, soil and mud of Urmia Lake. 1 Locality: Shores of Bari, Golmankhaneh Port, Chichest, Rashakan, Kazem Dashi, Gholmankhaneh, Gamichi, Shahi peninsula, Western and Eastern coastlines of Urmia Lake Bridge; Salinity: 24.15%-28.4%; 2 Locality: Has not been reported, Salinity: 32%; 3 Locality: Has not been reported, Salinity: Saturated; 4 Locality: Seven stations in the Eastern shores of Lake (localities had not been clearly explained); Salinity: 23%-32%.

Microfungi
Fungi are cosmopolitan eukaryotic organisms which have worldwide distribution, inhabiting diverse extreme ecotypes from deserts to hypersaline environments.The present update lists 20 species of hyphomycetes fungi explored in soils of the National Park of Urmia Lake (Table 2).

Lichen
Lichens are composite, symbiotic organisms made up from members of algae or cyanobacteria (or both) living among filaments of a fungus.Caloplaca ferrugineoides is a single lichen identified from Urmia Lake National Park (Table 3).

Phytoplankton
The main algal flora of Urmia Lake has been listed in our previse checklist in 2014 [1].Urmia Lake contains a diverse assemblage of phytoplankton, with Dunaliella as the dominant alga.It is a green halophilic alga which produces high amounts of β-carotene.This phytoplankton is the major food source for Artemia in the Urmia Lake [1].Recently, four species of Dunaliella have been identified using 18S rDNA gene [9].A current list of Dunaliella species in Urmia Lake is given in Table 4.

Parasites
The knowledge of parasitic infections in wildlife is necessary for management of protected areas and national parks.Table 5 documents the checklist of parasites of pelicans, wild sheep and yellow deer in the Urmia Lake National Park.

Insects
A list of uncommon species of insects from surrounding areas of Urmia Lake is presented in Table 6. 1 Synonym with Masicera sphingivora.

Crustacea
Temporary aquatic micro-ecosystems i.e. ponds and lagoons, around Urmia Lake provide special habitats for crustaceans.The biodiversity of crustacean is documented in Table 7.The lagoon near the Southern part of Urmia Lake/Rashakan region; Salinity: 0.1%.

Reptiles
The surrounding regions of Urmia Lake harbour several species of reptiles.Their communities might be faced with a possible threat of extinction due to unsuitable ecological conditions in Urmia Lake.Special care should be taken to maintain these species at the lake [1].Table 8 shows the updated list of reptiles in surrounding regions of Urmia Lake National Park.* Note: There are no specific localities have been reported for those species.

Mid-winter Birds
Our comprehensive bird checklist of Urmia Lake consists of resident breeding species and winter visitors [1].Table 9 shows new members of mid-winter birds from the National Park of Urmia Lake Table 9. List of mid-winter birds from the National Park of Urmia Lake [27].

Fossils
The first and only scientific study of fossils of Urmia Lake goes back to collected samples by Robert T. Gunther (1869-1940) in the late nineteenth century.The list of fossils species from Urmia Lake is presented in Table 10.  1 There are no specific localities had been reported for those species; 2 Island of Koyun Daghi (Kaboudan); 3 Guvarchin Kala, at the extreme Northern end of Urmia Lake.
The extended and updated list further highlights the high biodiversity of Urmia Lake and surrounding areas.Unfortunately, the desertification and loss of water in Urmia Lake has continued [32] which will further endanger the unique ecosystem and its biodiversity.Urgent measures are required to stop this development.

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Geographical localization of Urmia Lake in the northwestern of Iran.

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Geographical localization of Urmia Lake in the northwestern of Iran.

Table 1 .
List of archaebacteria and bacteria from the National Park of Urmia Lake.

Table 5 .
List of reported parasites at pelicans and some mammalians from the National Park of Urmia Lake.

Table 6 .
List of insects in the Western part of National Park of Urmia Lake.

Table 7 .
List of crustaceans from the National Park of Urmia Lake.

Table 8 .
List of reptiles from the National Park of Urmia Lake.
Note: There are no specific localities have been reported for those species. *

Table 10 .
List of fossils from the National Park of Urmia Lake.