Comparison of benthic diatoms diversity (Bacillariophyta) in the Special Protected Area Cape Sarych and other water areas of the Crimea (the Black Sea)

Abstract

The structure of diatom taxocenes in the Special Protected Area “Coastal Aquatic Complex Cape Sarych” and the previously studied areas of the Crimea (conditionally clean Cape Fiolent, Novy Svet settl., Bay Dvuyakornaya and heavily polluted bays Balaklavskaya, Karantinnaya, Inkerman, and Sevastopolskaya) were analyzed with the use of the index TaxDI. At Cape Sarych, we identified 82 species and intraspecific taxa of diatoms belonging to 35 genera, 25 families, 15 orders, 3 classes of Bacillariophyta, among which 18 species were new to the flora of the Black Sea. The structure of diatom taxocenes in pristine water areas was formed by branches of different hierarchy and predominance of close at the genus level polyspecies taxa. Diatom taxocenes of polluted waters were characterized by a high proportion of mono- and oligospecies branches closing at the family or order levels that brought to reduced diatom taxonomic diversity, increased evenness and decreased variability of their hierarchical structure. The impact of technogenic pollutants caused a transformation of the primary link of the marine sublittoral ecosystem which is expressed in the reduced structure of diatom taxocenes and disappearance of diatom species with low resistance to negative factors.

Keywords

• taxonomic distinctness index
• taxdi
• avtd
• vartd
• hierarchical diversity
• taxocene structure
• crimean coast