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Planktonic and Benthic Algocoenoses in Highly Mineralized Rivers that Drain into Lake Elton

  • WATER ECOSYSTEMS OF ARID TERRITORIES
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Abstract

This paper presents results of long-term (2008 and 2012–2019) studies of phytoplankton and phytobenthos in seven highly mineralized rivers of the Lake Elton basin. Two-hundred-and-fourteen algal taxa belonging to seven systematic divisions have been identified in the algal flora; of them, the division Bacillariophyta features the greatest species richness and abundance. A comparative analysis of the taxonomic structure and species diversity of algocoenoses in the mineralization gradient was performed. The following structure-forming species represented by widespread euryhaline taxa were identified: Chaetoceros muelleri Lemm., Conticribra weissflogii (Grun.) S. Suchoples et Williams, Nitzschia closterium Ehr., Halamphora coffeaeformis (Ag.) Meresch., and Achnanthes brevipes Ag., (Bacillariophyta), as well as Cyanoprokaryota (Phormidium breve (Kütz. ex Gom.) Anagn. & Kom., Oscillatoria limosa Ag. ex Gom., O. tenuis Ag. ex Gom., and Geitlerinema amphibium (Ag. ex Gom.) Anagn.). Species of the genus Dunaliella (Chlorophyta) predominate in rivers featuring critical salinity conditions. It is established that the abundance and biomass of algae in algocoenoses vary in a wide range and do not depend on the mineralization level. In mesohaline rivers, the negative correlation between specific species richness and mineralization is weak; while in polyhaline rivers, it is statistically significant (R = –0.50, R = –0.52, p < 0.05). Seasonal dynamics of planktonic algocoenoses is manifested by changes in the species structure, abundance, and biomass.

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Funding

This study was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, project no. 17-04-00135 and performed as part of the State Assignment, project no. AAAA-A17-117112040040-3 (Assessment of the Current Biodiversity and Forecast of Its Changes in Ecosystems of the Volga River Basin amid Their Natural and Anthropogenic Transformation).

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  1. Institute of Ecology of the Volga River Basin, Russian Academy of Sciences, 445003, Togliatti, Russia

    O. G. Gorokhova & T. D. Zinchenko

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  1. O. G. Gorokhova
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  2. T. D. Zinchenko
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Correspondence to O. G. Gorokhova or T. D. Zinchenko.

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Conflict of interest. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Translated by L. Emeliyanov

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Gorokhova, O.G., Zinchenko, T.D. Planktonic and Benthic Algocoenoses in Highly Mineralized Rivers that Drain into Lake Elton. Arid Ecosyst 12, 516–524 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1134/S2079096122040059

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S2079096122040059

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