Current Information on the Diversity of Dinoflagellates of Ukraine

Abstract

Presenting current information on the diversity of <i>Dinoflagellata</i> in Ukraine. The use of electron microscopy, as well as molecular genetic research methods over the past 10 years have made it possible to observe significant changes in the taxonomic system of the<i> Miozoa</i> division of the superclass <i>Dinoflagellata.</i> Based on the analysis of 216 literary sources and bringing all the names of dinoflagellates in line with those accepted in the international database AlgaeBase, it was established that the current list of <i>Dinoflagellates</i> of Ukraine includes 368 species (395 infraspecific taxa), belonging to 3 classes, 14 orders, 45 families and 98 genera. The number of species found in Ukraine is an order of magnitude lower than that currently known for<i> Miozoa</i> in the world (3636), and their distribution by order almost coincides and is very uneven: 3 orders include 63% of currently known species in the peace and 71% - in Ukraine. The most diverse orders in Ukraine are<i> Peridiniales</i> (118 species, 32%),<i> Gymnodiniales</i> (82/22%) and<i> Gonyaulacales</i> (60/16%). In comparison with the most complete review by Krakhmalnyi (2011), the species richness of dinoflagellates of Ukraine and their taxonomy underwent significant changes in the last decade. The number of species, orders and genera has increased twice and number of new species and infraspecific taxa has increased by 85 units and one species has been described as new to science. But the species diversity of some dinoflagellates regions of Ukraine remains insufficiently studied, and some of them require additional research. The analysis of the distribution of dinoflagellates in the territorial waters of Ukraine confirmed that most of them inhabit the seas (302 species and infraspecific taxa), which is more then to three times higher than in estuaries (112) and is more to twice those in aquatic complexes on the land (134). Overall, 70% were unique (not found in other ecotopes), while 30% were shared. Naturally, most of them were found in the contact zone between seas and estuaries (14/7%), 4/3% - between the estuaries and land water bodies, 3% were found in the seas and in the land water bodies, and 8/1% were found in all studied ecotopes. This shows the high role of the estuaries, as water contact zones, for the dinoflagellates diversity and the necessity for their additional studies. Among the species occurring on the land water bodies, the largest number is assigned to the Dnieper-Black Sea, Middle Dnieper and Carpathian-Danube algofloristic subprovinces, due to the presence of water contact zones of different origins and greater study of these areas.