Research Information System
in: Tigris and Euphrates Rivers: Their Environment from Headwaters to Mouth, Aquatic Ecology Series 11, Laith A. Jawad, Editor, Springer, London/Berlin , Zug, pp.1539-1560, 2021
Tigris–Euphrates River Basin is one of the great river systems of south-western Asia.
Tigris (Dicle) River and Euphrates (Fırat) River are born in Turkey and they follow
roughly parallel courses from their sources to the upper part of the Persian Gulf. The
Lake Hazar located in the southeast of Elazığ Province is the main source of the Tigris
River while the Murat and Karasu streams originated in northeastern Turkey are major
tributaries of the Euphrates. A total of ten dam lakes or reservoirs are located on Tigris
and Euphrates Rivers in Turkey. A lot of them are used to provide hydroelectric power
besides recreational and fisheries purposes. In this chapter, benthic macroinvertebrate
communities in this area reported at previous studies were submitted.
In the present chapter, the findings/data obtained through previous studies carried
out on benthic macroinvertebrate communities in the rivers and dam lakes present in
the Tigris–Euphrates River Basin in Turkey are reviewed and evaluated. In addition,environmental effects on benthic macroinvertebrates and their role in the aquatic
habitats of the two rivers are discussed in relation to their occurrence.