A checklist of freshwater algae of the Northwest Territories, Canada

Abstract

A checklist of the freshwater algae from the Northwest Territories has been compiled to add to an algal flora of Canada. The 44 studies included report on 279 bodies of water. A large diversity of algal communities has been examined in these investigations, such as phytoplankton and periphyton in permanent and temporary tundra ponds, polluted and unpolluted high arctic lakes, and subarctic lakes and streams. The flora consists of 212 genera and 1577 subgeneric taxa. The major algal classes represented in this list are the Bacillariophyceae (761 taxa), the Chlorophyceae (481 taxa), and the Cyanophyceae (173 taxa).