Diversity of Chrysophyceae (Heterocontophyta) in the Zasavica River (Serbia)

Abstract

Detailed studies of the Chrysophyceae class of algae have not been undertaken in Serbia thus far. The golden algae usually occur during the winter and spring months. Chrysophyceae of the Zasavica River in Serbia were studied at two localities from December 2012 to Jun 2013. In our research, 26 taxa were recorded and the genus with the highest diversity was Mallomonas (15 species). The most abundant species during the whole study period were Synura uvella, Dinobryon divergens and Dinobryon sociale. At the beginning of summer, Chrysophyceae disappeared from the phytoplankton community. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 176020 i br. III 43004]

Algae in Shallow and Small Water Bodies of Serbia: A Frame for Species and Habitat Protection

“…Karadžić [61] observed the richness of 444 algal taxa during studies in 2001/2001, 2005, and 2008 in the Ponjavica River. The most diverse divisions were Chlorophyta (167 registered taxa), Bacillariophyta (97), Cyanobacteria (76), and Euglenophyta (74), and the most diverse genera were Scenedesmus (41), and Euglena (33). The same author also pointed to the presence of 21 potentially toxic cyanobacterial taxa, three of which have an invasive character (R. raciborskii, S. aphanizomenoides, and R. mediterranea).…”

“…Only at some localities, usually during the summer months, the abundance and richness of representatives of the Cryptophyta and Euglenophyta were very significant, which is a good indication of organic pollution [29]. After the proclamation, SNR "Zasavica" became an interesting area for biodiversity research, so more detailed algological studies continued [30][31][32], and new species for this reserve, but also for Serbia, were recorded [32][33][34][35]. For example, during the detailed investigation in 2012 and 2013, a total of 442 microalgae taxa were registered in the phytoplankton and metaphyton communities.…”

“…Mallomonas splendens (G.S.West) Playfair, Uroglena skujae Matvienko (Fig. 8.3a, b)) [33]. Within the wellresearched euglenoid algae in Serbia [36], 89 representatives of this group with 9 new taxa for the Serbian flora were recorded in the Zasavica (e. g. Lepocinclis acicularis Francè, Phacus monilatus (A.Stokes) Lemmerman (Fig.…”

“…That may indicate that this ecosystem with high taxa richness potentially withstood the impact of invasive planktonic algae. Including the taxa recorded during 1995 and 1996 [29], whose presence was not confirmed by late analyses [32,[33][34][35]39], the total number of microalgae taxa in phytoplankton and metaphyton Zasavica detected so far is 605.…”

Diversity of Cyanobacteria in the Zasavica river, Serbia

“…The Zasavica River is the center of the Special Nature Reserve "Zasavica" in Serbia (Predojević et al, 2014;Predojević et al, 2015) which has very high biodiversity. This river can be characterized as both flowing and standing water according to its properties.…”