Phytoplankton in Coqueiro Lake (Pantanal de Poconé, Mato Grosso, Brazil)

Sandra Francisca Marçal,Simoni Maria Loverde-Oliveira

doi:10.5007/2175-7925.2015v28n2p9

Sandra Francisca Marçal, Simoni Maria Loverde-Oliveira

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-7925.2015v28n2p9

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Abstract

Studies on floristic composition are key to understand qualiquantitative changes on phytoplankton assemblages over the year. Spatial-temporal variation in composition, richness, frequency of occurrence, and abundance (semi-quantitative) of the phytoplankton community was analyzed monthly (from April 2002 to May 2003), at 3 stations, in Coqueiro Lake (Pantanal, Mato Grosso, Brazil). We registered 256 taxa, mainly represented by Zygnematophyceae (36%), Chlorophyceae (21%), and Euglenophyceae (14%). The highest abundance occurred at the limnetic station (2), but Bacillariophyceae, Cyanophyceae, Chlorophyceae, and Zygnematophyceae prevailed at the 3 stations. The highest average richness was obtained at the littoral station (3), but this station showed a significantly lower abundance (p < 0.05) than the 2 limnetic stations. The system was characterized for higher contributions of Chlorophyceae in the falling water period, Bacillariophyceae in the low waters, Cyanophyceae in the rising waters and Zygnematophyceae in the high waters, and, on average, the highest richness and abundance were registered in the drought (Aulacoseira spp., Coelastrum spp., Anabaena spp., Aphanocapsa minutissima, Planktolyngbya spp. and Eutetramorus fottii). The attributes of phytoplankton community showed spatial and temporal variations, influenced by the presence of macrophytes, but defined, above all, by seasonal hydrologic changes, caused by the flooding pulse.

Highlights

In environments subject to seasonal floods, oscillations in water level are regarded as the driving force in plankton community dynamics (HUSZAR; REYNOLDS, 1997; HUSZAR et al, 1998; TRAIN; RODRIGUES, 1998; CARDOSO et al, 2012), where a set of synergistic environmental and spatial factors respond to these hydrologic variations and lead to changes in communities (LOVERDE-OLIVEIRA et al, 2012)
Studies about algal communities in tropical regions are scarce and incipient (LOVERDE-OLIVEIRA et al, 2012), but it has been shown that quantitative and qualitative variations are related to the climatic and hydrologic regime (PAYNE, 1986; DIAS JR., 1990; ESPÍNDOLA et al, 1996; LOVERDE-OLIVEIRA; HUSZAR, 2007), and that phytoplankton dynamics is controlled by a combination of several hydrodynamic processes acting on different spatial and temporal scales (CALIJURI, 1988)
In Brazil, a few research groups on phytoplankton have been consolidated this decade (BICUDO; MENEZES, 2010; NASCIMENTO, 2010; LOVERDEOLIVEIRA et al, 2011); in the state of Mato Grosso, studies on phytoplankton are focused on the Pantanal (JUNK et al, 2006; LOVERDE-OLIVEIRA et al, 2012) and they follow an ecological descriptive trend (TREMARIN et al, 2011)

Summary

Introduction

In environments subject to seasonal floods, oscillations in water level are regarded as the driving force in plankton community dynamics (HUSZAR; REYNOLDS, 1997; HUSZAR et al, 1998; TRAIN; RODRIGUES, 1998; CARDOSO et al, 2012), where a set of synergistic environmental and spatial factors respond to these hydrologic variations and lead to changes in communities (LOVERDE-OLIVEIRA et al, 2012). In Brazil, a few research groups on phytoplankton have been consolidated this decade (BICUDO; MENEZES, 2010; NASCIMENTO, 2010; LOVERDEOLIVEIRA et al, 2011); in the state of Mato Grosso, studies on phytoplankton are focused on the Pantanal (JUNK et al, 2006; LOVERDE-OLIVEIRA et al, 2012) and they follow an ecological descriptive trend (TREMARIN et al, 2011) These studies are almost always related to the hydrologic looding pulse (JUNK et al, 1989) and they use relative abundance (HECKMAN et al, 1993; DE-LAMONICA-FREIRE; HECKMAN, 1996; LIMA, 1996; MARÇAL, 2005), density and biomass (LOVERDE-OLIVEIRA, 2005; LOVERDEOLIVEIRA; HUSZAR, 2007; CARDOSO et al, 2012; LOVERDE-OLIVEIRA et al, 2012), and primary productivity (BAMBI et al, 2008) to describe the communities. This is a major element regarding knowledge on biodiversity, used in applied studies (e.g. LOVERDE-OLIVEIRA et al, 2009) and loristic comparisons between different ecosystems (HUSZAR, 1996; LOVERDE-OLIVEIRA et al, 2011)

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