Taxonomic Diversity and Ecological Characteristics of Chlorophyta and Charophyta in the Water Bodies of the Kuyalnyk Estuary (Ukraine, the Black Sea Northwestern Coast)

Abstract

Results of analysis of original data obtained in 2001-2018 on the ecology and biogeographic distribution of 40 species (45 infraspecific taxa) of Chlorophyta of the orders Cladophorales (8), Ulotrichales (4), Ulvales (6), Chlo-rellales (1), Chlamydomonadales (6), and Sphaeropleales (20) and 7 species of Charophyta of the orders Zygnematales (2), Desmidiales (4), and Charales (1) of the hyperhaline Kuyalnyk estuary, its main tributaries and various water bodies located within the two-kilometer water protection zone are given in the paper. The ecological characteristics (relationship to pH, water salinity, organic matter content, and ecotopic confinement) and the environmental conditions of habitats (temperature, water salinity, pH, and the content of inorganic compounds of nitrogen and phosphorus) are given in the paper. In the hyperhaline Kuyalnyk estuary, the concentration of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) was high during all water periods. The increase in water salinity up to 200-320‰ resulted in the decrease in species diversity, changes in the structure of algal communities, and also in a predominance of species ofthe genus <i>Dunaliella</i> Teod. (Chlorophyta).