Biodiversity of the zooplankton community in shallow lakes in western Kazakhstan

The dataset contains information on zooplankton in four lakes in western Kazakhstan, in the context of environmental conditions, with particular emphasis on water salinity.
The data were collected during field studies conducted seasonally in 2019-21 on lakes located in the steppe, semi-desert, and desert areas of western Kazakhstan.
The dataset contains information on zooplankton species composition, abundance, and biomass, as well as on the physical and chemical parameters of the waters of the studied lakes: limnetic, oligohaline, beta-mesohaline, and alpha-mesohaline.
The files are organised as follows: the rows contain data from individual sampling sessions in different lakes (names), salinity types, locations (steppe, semi-desert, desert), seasons, and years, while the columns contain individual water quality descriptors and the abundance and biomass of identified zooplankton species.
Potential reuse opportunities include incorporating results from lakes with higher salinity or from other arid regions of the world.
Limitations of the dataset include the lack of information on larval forms that have not been identified to species.