Algal composition and biomass in the tropical soda lake Chitu with focus on seasonal variability of Arthrospira fusiformis (Cyanophyta)

2016 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 483 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tadesse Ogato ◽  
Demeke Kifle ◽  
Brook Lemma

The vital ecological functions of the East African soda lakes are much dependent on Arthrospira, which forms a natural nearly monoalgal populations and serves as the main diet for the huge flocks of flamingos in the present study lake Chitu (Ethiopia). This study investigated algal taxonomic composition and biomass, and the seasonal variability in the abundance of Arthrospira fusiformis in response to some environmental drivers (e.g. rainfall, salinity and nutrients) using samples collected over an annual cycle. The algal community was composed of a few taxa (15 species), with exclusive dominance of A. fusiformis. Chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) and dry weight, and abundance of A. fusiformis were notably high and exhibited seasonal variations, with significantly (P<0.05) higher levels of Chl-a and dry weight during the rainy season. The observed strong correlations of algal abundance and biomass with rainfall (positively) and alkalinity-salinity (negatively), probably suggest that hydrological control of the salinity is the major driving force for the seasonal variability of A. fusiformis in the lake. Further hydrological modifications that enhance salinisation may greatly affect A. fusiformis thereby causing instability of the flamingos with eventual impairment of the ecosystem values of the lake.

Environments ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 28
Author(s):  
Perrine Dranguet ◽  
Aline Freiburghaus ◽  
Vera Slaveykova ◽  
Séverine Le Faucheur

Biofilms are important components of the mercury (Hg) biogeochemical cycle. However, Hg effects on biofilm communities are overlooked. Here, we present results of a pilot study on the chronic effects of Hg on biofilms, notably on the potential change of their taxonomic composition. Biofilms were cultivated in microcosms enriched with three different Hg concentrations (11 ± 2 pM, 121 ± 9 pM and 1454 ± 54 pM) for 55 days and examined for their accumulated Hg concentrations and composition. Bioaccumulated Hg concentrations were representative of those encountered in natural environments. Despite the lack of influence on the ash free dry weight and chlorophyll content, the surface coverage of the substrata of biofilms grown in Hg decreased. Algal community were strongly affected by Hg, with a decrease in their richness with Ochrophyta found as the most sensitive phyla. The diversity and richness of bacterial communities did not change upon cultivation in Hg but the presence of Proteobacteria increased with Hg, whereas Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria, Verrumicrobia, and Cyanobacteria were negatively impacted. Overall, the above findings suggest that the examination of the algal community composition might be used as a potential biomonitoring tool to assess the impacts of environmental Hg concentrations on aquatic systems, which would merit further investigation.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daffne C. López-Sandoval ◽  
Katherine Rowe ◽  
Paloma Carillo-de-Albonoz ◽  
Carlos M. Duarte ◽  
Susana Agusti

Abstract. Resolving the environmental drivers shaping planktonic communities is fundamental to understanding their variability, present and future, across the ocean. More specifically, resolving the temperature-dependence of planktonic communities in low productive waters is essential to predict the response of marine ecosystems to warming scenarios, as ocean warming leads to oligotrophication of the subtropical ocean. Here we quantified plankton metabolic rates along the Red Sea, a unique oligotrophic and warm environment, and analysed the drivers that regulate gross primary production (GPP), community respiration (CR) and the net community production (NCP). The study was conducted on six oceanographic surveys following a north-south transect along Saudi Arabian coasts. Our findings revealed that Chl-a specific GPP and CR rates increased with increasing temperature (R2 = 0.41 and 0.19, respectively, P 


2021 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 375-382
Author(s):  
Pınar Çağlayan

As an extreme environment, soda lakes harbor various haloalkaliphilic microorganisms. Salda Lake is one of the natural soda lake (pH˃9) in Turkey. Haloalkaliphiles are unique microorganisms in their ability to live in high alkaline and high saline conditions, and play an important role in biodegradation and bioremediation of hydrocarbons. Hence, the aims of this study were to isolate haloalkaliphilic bacteria from water sample of Salda Lake, to identify these isolates by both conventional and molecular methods, to screen their industrially important enzymes, and to investigate their antimicrobial resistance profiles. Six isolates were identified as Bacillus horneckiae, Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus paramycoides, Bacillus pumilus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Bacillus haynesii according to 16S rRNA gene sequencing analysis. The industrially important enzymes (amylase, cellulase, pullulanase, lipase, urease, protease, caseinase, oxidase, catalase) were produced by haloalkaliphilic isolates. These enzymes maybe used in alkaline and saline industrial processes. Although Bacillus subtilis was susceptible to all antibiotics, other isolates showed resistance to at least one antibiotic. The resistance against antibiotics were found as ampicillin/sulbactam 83%, amoxycillin/clavulanic acid 83%, ampicillin 67%, mupirocin 67%, chloramphenicol 50%, tetracycline 50%, imipenem 50%, meropenem 50%, cefadroxil 17%. These bacteria may have develope resistance to antibiotics that entering their natural environment in different ways.


2000 ◽  
Vol 57 (S2) ◽  
pp. 136-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dolors Planas ◽  
Mélanie Desrosiers ◽  
S-Raphaëlle Groulx ◽  
Serge Paquet ◽  
Richard Carignan

Pelagic and benthic algal biomass and pelagic algal community structure were measured in Boreal Shield lakes impacted by forest harvesting and wildfires (Haute-Mauricie, Québec). Sixteen reference lakes in which the watershed has been unperturbed for at least 40 years, seven harvested lake watersheds (logged in 1995), and nine lake watersheds burnt in 1995 were sampled for 3 years following harvesting or wildfires. From 1996 to 1998, repeated-measures ANOVA showed significant effects between treatment and sampling years for pelagic chlorophyll a (Chl a) and biomass, but for 1997-1998 benthic Chl a, repeated-measures ANOVA showed only significant treatment effects. Chl a concentrations increased 1.4- to 3-fold in perturbed lakes as compared with reference lakes. Areal pelagic Chl a (milligrams per square metre) was lower than estimated littoral Chl a in perturbed lakes. The pelagic algal community was dominated by mixotrophic nanoflagellates in reference lakes. Watershed perturbation induced differential changes in pelagic algal communities: mixotrophic nanoflagellates increased in harvested lakes and photoautotrophic diatoms in burnt lakes. Considering only perturbed lakes, algal biomass was proportional to the fraction of the catchment area perturbed divided by the surface area of lakes in the catchment.


2014 ◽  
Vol 60 (No. 6) ◽  
pp. 274-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Nasraoui-Hajaji ◽  
H. Gouia

N-fertilization type affected differently tomato growth. In the field experiment, hydroponic cultures were conducted using NO<sub>3</sub>-N (5 mmol); mixture of KNO<sub>3</sub>-N (3 mmol) and (NH<sub>4</sub>)<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub>-N (2 mmol); NH<sub>4</sub><sup>+</sup>-N (5 mmol) or urea&nbsp;(5 mmol) as nitrogen source. Compared to nitrate, ammonium and urea had negative effects on morphology and dry matter production. Effects of the different nitrogen forms were investigated by measuring several photosynthesis parameters and chl a fluorescence. Two different significant types of reaction were found. When nitrogen was added as ammonium or urea, dry weight, chlorophyll tenor, transpiration rate, stomatal conductance and photosynthetic activity were inhibited. Supply of ammonium or urea, reduced the ratio (F<sub>v</sub>/F<sub>m</sub>), photochemical quenching and enhanced the non photochemical quenching. These data suggest that the adverse decrease in tomato growth under ammonium or urea supply may be related principally to inhibition of net photosynthesis activity. The high non photochemical quenching shown in tomato fed with ammonium or urea indicated that PS II was the inhibitory site of NH<sub>4</sub><sup>+</sup>-N which was directly uptaken by roots, or librated via urea hydrolysis cycle.


1986 ◽  
Vol 43 (6) ◽  
pp. 1156-1162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A. Reiter ◽  
Robert E. Carlson

Water velocity is commonly accepted as a factor in the development of benthic algal mats in streams. Within a stream, two different zones of velocity are observed: the free-water velocity of the open water and the local velocity near the stream substrate. A closed laboratory flume system was used to observe the taxonomic composition of benthic algal mats and corresponding changes in the local velocities under different free-water velocities. As the algal mat developed under each experimental velocity, local velocities diminished and eventually became equal in all sections, while free-water velocities remained different. After a period of maximum taxonomic diversity during the first 2 wk of mat development, taxonomic composition, relative abundance of the taxa, and dry weight biomass became increasingly similar in the three velocity regimes, although the mats appeared different upon casual observation. Differences in composition and morphology in natural algal mats may not result from differences in current velocity, and the idea of a "closed monolayer" algal mat may not be appropriate in all situations.


1993 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 521-534 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helena Parkman ◽  
Markus Meili

Mercury concentrations in lacustrine macroinvertebrates were concurrently studied in eight remote Swedish forest lakes of differing dystrophy, acidity, and eutrophy. The aim was to assess the influence of ecological factors (taxon, habitat, and feeding habits), chemical factors (characterizing different types of lakes), and regional and climatic factors (Hg deposition and mean temperature) on the accumulation of Hg. Concentrations varied from <50 to >5000 ng Hg∙g dry weight−1. A large part of this high variability could be ascribed to differences in water and sediment chemistry, ecological niches, and species-specific seasonalities. Both taxonomic composition and Hg concentrations were highly dependent on the type of lake. Concentrations were highest in acidic dystrophic lakes and lowest in oligotrophic lakes. Mean Hg concentrations in the examined taxa within a lake differed 100-fold. Contrary to widely held views on biomagnification, the lowest concentrations among profundal chironomids were found in predators whereas the highest concentrations occurred in detritivores. Seasonal variations were negligible in some taxa but considerable in others and appeared in some taxa to be related to the life cycle. We conclude that Hg accumulation in macroinvertebrates is largely determined by feeding behaviour and food quality.


Paleobiology ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 483-503 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathlyn M. Stewart ◽  
Leola Leblanc ◽  
Diana P. Matthiesen ◽  
Jolee West

Fish eagles (genus Haliaeetus) potentially have contributed the bones of their prey to many late Cenozoic concentrations of vertebrate microfossils. To evaluate possible biases in the taxa and skeletal elements preserved in assemblages accumulated by fish eagles, which could affect paleoecological and evolutionary interpretations derived from Cenozoic microfaunal localities, a sample of 1883 bones accumulated by modern African fish eagles (H. vocifer) was collected from a roost near Lake Turkana, Kenya. Characteristics of the bone assemblage include (1) taxonomic composition dominated by fish; (2) diverse but small-sized and ecologically restricted animals including inshore fish, aquatic birds, very small nocturnal mammals (which may have been contributed by other raptors), and small reptiles (possible predators on the roost); (3) poor survivorship for specific categories of skeletal elements; (4) considerable bone breakage for all but the smallest animals; and (5) a distinctive pattern of postcranial fragmentation for bird and mammal elements. The fish eagle element profile has some similarities to those of other diurnal raptors, but its cumulative signature can be distinguished from those of other bone accumulators and includes characteristics that would also be manifest in fossil assemblages. Examination of fossil microfaunas from the Plio-Pleistocene localities of Kanapoi (Kenya), Inolelo (Tanzania), and Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania) shows that the patterns of element preservation for Kanapoi and Inolelo do not match those of the Lake Turkana fish eagle roost. Nonetheless, some aspects of the Olduvai Gorge FLKN assemblage show taxonomic and skeletal similarites. In light of the selective choices of prey by fish eagles, the fauna recovered from Olduvai Gorge FLKN might not accurately reflect faunal diversity or patterns of abundance at this locality during the Pleistocene. Because fish eagles of the genus Haliaeetus are found on three continents, have a fossil record extending to the Miocene, and deposit bones in a habitat conducive to preservation, the taxa preserved at many other late Cenozoic microfaunal sites also might be biased. Therefore, taphonomic profiles of late Cenozoic microfaunal assemblages should be compared against the taphonomic profiles typical of fish eagle roosts before faunal characterizations of sites are applied in analyses of paleoecological evolution.


2010 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olesya Anishchenko ◽  
Michail Gladyshev ◽  
Elena Kravchuk ◽  
Elena Ivanova ◽  
Iliada Gribovskaya ◽  
...  

AbstractThe concentrations of metals K, Na, Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, Ni, Pb, Co and Cr, in the water and periphyton (epilithic algal communities) were studied at a site in the middle stream of the Yenisei River (Siberia, Russia) during three years using monthly sampling frequencies. Despite considerable seasonal variations in aquatic concentrations of some metals, there was no correlation between metal contents in the water and in periphyton. Seasonal concentration variations of some metals in periphyton were related to the species (taxonomic) composition of periphytic microalgae and cyanobacteria. Enhanced levels of Ni and Co in periphyton in late autumn, winter, and early spring were likely caused by the predominance of cyanobacteria in the periphytic community, and annual maximum levels of K in periphyton in late spring and early summer were attributed to the domination of Chlorophyta, primarily Ulothrix zonata.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document