Phytoperiphyton of water bodies and water courses of the State Nature Reserve «Kivach» (Republic of Karelia, Russia)

Abstract

The study of phytoperiphyton communities in waterbodies and watercourses typical for the State Nature Reserve «Kivach» (Republic of Karelia, Russia) included the analysis of their taxonomy composition, ecology and space distribution such as abundance. In total, 156 species were identified from different substrates, belonging to Cyanophyta (Cyanoprokaryota) (21), Ochrophyta (96), Dinophyta (2), Euglenophyta (2), Chlorophyta (35). The paper has discussed the main principles of structure formation of phytoperiphyton communities in rivers. Based on the analysis of taxonomic composition and structure of attached algal communities the similarity features in community composition were revealed. The lists of species dominating in terms of abundance and biomass differ appreciably. Phytoperiphyton communities, dominated by typical attached forms such as Tabellaria flocculosa, Eunotia pectinalis Cocconeis placentula, and Achnanthes minutissima were most common and abundant. However, the bulk of biomass was formed mainly by the filamentous green algae Cladophora glomerata, Mougeotia sp., Zygnema sp., and Bulbochaete sp. We indicated that ecological-geographical composition of algae is dominated by widespread oligohalobic species being acidophilic or indifferent to medium pH. According to the assessments, water in lakes and one brook belonged to the oligosaprobic type and class II of water purity. Periphyton abundance and biomass in waterbodies studied ranging from 0.1 × 104 cell cm-2 to 1301.1 × 104 cell cm-2 and 0.01 mg/cm-2 to 34.70 mg/cm-2.

Keywords

• ecology
• phytoperiphyton
• State Nature Reserve «Kivach»
• taxonomy
• waterbodies
• watercourses