Abstract
The Sasyk Reservoir is one of the largest seaside reservoirs in Ukraine, artificially maintained as a freshwater area including various floodplain areas. The Reservoir originated from an estuary to now being an almost freshwater reservoir. The diatoms (Bacillariophyta) in benthos were investigated for analyzing the coastal zone diversity of the Black Sea inside the borders of Ukraine. The indicated diatom composition was formed by 97 species (100 infraspecies taxa). Some rare marine and freshwater taxa were noted, as well as three species reported in Ukrainian territory for the first time (Navicula vandamii Schoeman et R.E.M. Archibald, Sellaphora difficillima (Hustedt) C.E. Wetzel, L. Ector et D.G. Mann, and Mastogloia laterostrata Hustedt). The bioindicative characteristics of the diatom composition testified to the freshwater condition of the reservoir. Changes to the salinity level of the Sasyk Reservoir were exposed due to the composition of benthic diatoms. The presence of mesohalobous species (7 taxa) acknowledges conditions that are typical for estuaries and mouths of rivers and reveals the salinity changes in the Sasyk Reservoir. Likewise, the prevailing number of oligohalobous diatoms (61 taxa) reveal presence of freshwater in the reservoir. The implementation of the Polish phytobenthos lake assessment method for the nearby Ukrainian Reservoir was conducted for the first time. The multimetric Diatom Index for lake values varied from 0.39 to 0.76, and revealed alterations in the status over the Sasyk sites, ranging from good, moderate, to poor. Thus, it may be concluded that the current ecological status relating to the composition of benthic diatoms of the reservoir located in the coastal zone of the Black Sea is evaluated as having a moderate status class with some exceptions.
Highlights
Phytobenthos is widely recognized as a sensitive indicator to many environmental variables in rivers, streams, and lakes [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]
Benthic diatom composition in the coastal zone of the Black Sea is presented for the Sasyk Reservoir
The modern algal diversity is formed by heterogenic conditions of the studied area incorporated in diatom diversity
Summary
Phytobenthos is widely recognized as a sensitive indicator to many environmental variables in rivers, streams, and lakes [1,2,3,4,5,6,7] In this matter, a composition of diatom algae is considered as the most important component of benthic flora. The study of diatoms of coastal ecosystems is relevant for the Ukraine and many countries of the world covering different continents [15,16,17,18,19,20] This is one of the most important issues in establishing natural and anthropogenic changes in transitional waters of the discussed ecosystems and their possible transformations following monitoring studies [16,21,22]
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