Spatial and temporal patterns of benthic diatom flora in Lake Stechlin, Germany

Authors : Beáta Szabó, Judit Padisak, Géza B. Selmeczy, Lothar Krienitz, Peter Casper, Csilla Stenger-kovács

Pages : 211-222

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Publication Date : 9999-12-31

Article Type : Makaleler

Abstract :Phytoplankton and planktonic centric diatoms of Lake Stechlin have been extensively studied, while attached diatoms have received much less scientific interest. In the present study, the composition of benthic diatoms and their diversity metrics were determined and compared along the shoreline of the lake in spring 2013 and autumn 2014. Overall, 118 taxa classified in 52 genera were found, of which 15 species belonged to threat categories of the Red List for Central Europe. Species richness (33 ± 4), Shannon diversity (2.47 ± 0.23), and species composition did not show any differences between different basins. Besides the spatial homogeneity, considerable temporal differences were observed. In spring 2013, species number was significantly lower, while the proportion of Mediophyceae species was higher due to the high abundance of Stephanodiscus rugosus and S. neoastraea. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) showed significant differences between samples from the two years for the total and the Bacillariophyceae species composition. TP concentration of water samples suggested a mesotrophic status and most of the diatom taxa were considered eutraphentic and meso-eutraphentic.
Keywords : Bacillariophyceae, Mediophyceae, algal biodiversity, indicator species, algal red list, Baltic Lake District