Critical environmental factors for photosynthetic organisms of the Shardara Reservoir, Kazakhstan

In summer 2015, the distribution of structural indicators of phytoplankton and the macrophytes overgrowth in the Shardara Reservoir's water independent of external factors was studied. Phytoplankton was represented by 78 species; green algae dominated. The abundance of community was 544.0 mln. cells m-3, with biomass at 626.1 mg m-3. Macrophytes Potamogeton natans L. and Potamogeton malajanus L. massively developed on the eastern shallow parts and in bays of the southwestern part of the reservoir. Our research showed that the biotopes inhabited by macrophytes were generally characterized by relatively higher concentrations of nitrite, phosphate, and zinc. The structure of phytoplankton was dependent on many factors, among which the most important were the water temperature and heavy metals. The warm-water status of the Shardara Reservoir was reflected in the dominance of green algae and dinoflagellates. With relatively high concentrations of heavy metals in the ecosystem, their impact on phytoplankton was neutralized by the complex nature of pollution, which included the increased number of organic substances. The impact of toxicants was not traced when analyzing the diversity and abundance of phytoplankton. The prevalence of facultative heterotrophs among the diatoms served as an indirect indication of the presence of toxic substances in the ecosystem. The dimensional structure of phytoplankton changed under the influence of cadmium in size reduction, and that may be the adaptive restructuring of the community in response to the toxic stress. Therefore, we may emphasize the essential indicative importance of size parameters of communities, including the Clarke's W-statistics and Δ-Shannon-Weaver

Diatom Species Richness in Algal Flora of Pamir, Tajikistan

The main objective of this study was to quantify the diatom floral richness and analyze the diversity structure in Pamir aquatic habitats. We revealed 455 species (552 with infraspecific taxa) of diatom algae compiled from reference studies in 1930-1983 that was done for the first time, and our data after many floristic surveys conducted in the field during 2000-2015. Floristic analysis of the total species richness revealed 65 rare and 22 species new for Pamir algal flora, and has allowed us to identify prevailed Classes, Orders, and Families in the diatoms. Only four genera are prevailing and contain about 30% of total richness. The Pinnularia species from them are representing extremely large numbers (39). They prefer fresh, clear, circumneutral-water habitats in natural aquatic objects with developed phytoperiphytonic communities, included many rare species and can be peculiarities of the Pamir diatom flora

Ecological assessment of wetland ecosystems of northern Kazakhstan on the basis of hydrochemistry and algal biodiversity

We studied diversity of algae and cyanobacteria in the wetlands of protected natural lakes with salinity ranging from 0.19 up to 32.7 in the arid/semiarid regions of Northern Kazakhstan. In plankton and periphyton of 34 lakes, we found 254 species belonging to 113 genera of 8 algal divisions. The diversity in arid regions is represented by widespread species of diatoms, green algae, and cyanobacteria in similar proportions. Alkaliphiles, among the indicators of acidification, and betamesosaprobionts, among the indicators of saprobity, predominated. The indices of saprobity in lakes varied from 1.47 to 2.7, reflecting low-trophic and low anthropogenically disturbed wetlands. Oligohalobes- -indifferents are most common. Highly diverse algal communities were found irrespective of various levels of mineralization. As a consequence of aridization, salinity increase suppressed algal diversity. The mineralization was the most important variable defining the diversity levels, irrespective of the type and location of wetland lakes in the arid regions

Ecological assessment of Great Lota Lake (Turkey) on the base of diatom communities

The diatoms are very important component for aquatic ecosystems. Turkey has a rich lake potential and many of the lakes have high level of endemism. For this reason, the Great Lota Lake was investigated between October 2000 and October 2001 in sampling periods of approximately per 15 days from one station. Totally, 104 diatom taxa were identified and used for ecological analysis by statistic methods. Chronological analysis, indication in respect to temperature, habitat preferences, streaming and oxygenation, organic pollution by Pantle-Buck and Watanabe’s saprobity system, N-uptake metabolism, and trophic states were evaluated, and the aquatic ecosystem state index (WESI) was calculated. As a result, the diatoms in the lake preferred temperate, low saline and alkaline water. The saprobity is oligo- and betamesosaprobic when, the trophic state is eutrophic condition according to Van Dam’s system.Keywords: Bio-indication, CCA, diatoms, Great Lota Lake, monitoring, organic pollution, TurkeyAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(5), pp. 453-46

The Heterogeneity of the Abiotic and Biotic Components of Techno-Ecosystems: View from Space and from The Earth

The article discusses the use of different methods to assess the spatial structure of the biotic and abiotic component of the techno-ecosystems of cooling ponds of thermal and nuclear power plants in Belarus and Ukraine. Field studies provide point information on the parameters of biotic and abiotic variables, whereas statistical mapping and remote sensing methods makes it possible to generalize visualization and provides a holistic picture of the spatial heterogeneity of conditions and distribution of biota. Spatial changes in cooling ponds are mainly determined by hydrodynamic conditions in the pond and the presence of anthropogenic flow of cooling water. Studies have shown that the distribution of quantitative indicators of plankton in the surface layer in the Khmelnitsky NPP cooling pond was mostly determined by the position of individualstations and sections of the pond surface relative to manmade technical and wind circulation flows. In contrary, thermal conditions had the greatest influence on the characteristics of the plankton distribution in the Lukomskoye Lake - cooling pond of Lukomlskaya TPP

Algae and Cyanobacteria Diversity and Bioindication of Long-Term Changes in the Hula Nature Reserve, Israel

Lake Hula, the core of one of the most extensive wetland complexes in the Eastern Mediterranean, was drained in 1951–1958. However, about 350 hectares of papyrus marshes were allocated in the southwestern part of the previous lake and became the Hula Nature Reserve status, the first of two wetlands in Israel included in the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance. The list of algae and cyanobacteria species of Lake Hula was compiled by us for the first time based on data from publications of 1938–1958, as well as our research in the Hula Nature Reserve, obtained within the framework of the monitoring program for 2007–2013. The list includes 225 species and intraspecies of algae and cyanobacteria belonging to eight phyla. The dynamics of the species richness of algae and cyanobacteria flora for 1938–2013 are shown. Species-bioindicators of water quality have been identified, and the change in their composition by ecological groups for a period of about a hundred years has been shown. Based on the species richness of algae communities, water quality indices were calculated with particular attention to changes in trophic status during the study period. The algae flora of Lake Hula and Hula Nature Reserve was found to be similar, but bioindication has revealed an increase in salinity and organic pollution in recent years

Flora of Algae and Cyanobacteria of Continental Waters of Israel in the XXI Century: Taxonomy, Autecology and Water Quality Indicators

The article presents a list of algal species and cyanobacteria found in the continental waters of Israel in 1898–2022. Research progressed in 2000–2022 by increasing the list from 1261 to 1628 species belonging to fourteen phyla. Taxonomic analysis shows that diatoms, cyanobacteria, and green algae predominated. The first-time data has been synthesized to identify the indicator properties of Israel’s aquatic flora carried out on algae and cyanobacteria, which can be used to monitor water quality. The species’ ecological preferences are given for ten environmental variables: substrate preference, temperature, oxygen saturation with water mobility, water pH preferences, water salinity, organic pollution according to Watanabe and Sládeček with species-specific index of saprobity S, trophic state, and type of nutrition (autotrophic or heterotrophic). This list of species with indicator values for each species is used to characterize the water properties in Israel. In addition, it can be applied to assess the state of aquatic ecosystems and monitor water quality based on bioindication methods

Bioindication of Ecological State and Water Quality by Phytoplankton in the Shardara Reservoir, Kazakhstan

Abstract Altogether 76 species of algae were revealed in 13 sampling stations of the Shardara Reservoir's phytoplankton during summer 2015. Chlorophyta algae prevailed. Bioindication methods were used to characterize the reservoir water quality and trophic level as fresh and mesotrophic. For the first time, we used a new statistical approach in analyzing data on biodiversity and phytoplankton productivity in order to determine the main source of pollution. The spatial maps for different variables together with bioindication results were drawn using the Statistica 12.0 program. As an introduction to the new surface mapping method, we conclude that statistical maps are more representative and correspond better with the environment. The maps helped us to characterize the Shardara Reservoir as freshwater, with the source of pollution coming from the rivers and agricultural channels together with some toxic substances being dissolved at the lower part of the waterbody near the dam. The main self-purification processes in the studied waterbody mostly occur by means of the green planktonic algae at the central part of the reservoir. The present study demonstrated that using the surface mapping method is advisable in assessing the ecological conditions of the waterbody not for individual stations but for the reservoir as a whole. This study confirms our bioindication results on the correlation of water temperature and total dissolved solids, which is strongly related to water mass disturbance by the wind. Statistical mapping also confirms that the bioindication method showed a more detailed picture than standard physico-chemical analysis