UDC

582.232(574.586)

Authors

Ekaterina S. Miroshnichenko*, Mariya I. Moskvina**
*Murmansk State Technical University (Murmansk, Russian Federation)
**Lomonosov Moscow State University (Moscow, Russian Federation)

Abstract

The results of the analysis of periphyton cyanobacterial species composition of the littoral area of the western and eastern coasts of the southern and middle reaches of Kola Bay (the Barents Sea) allowed us to give the environmental characteristic of the studied community. The periphyton samples were obtained from all littoral horizons of the stations at low tide by the scraping with a scalpel from the surface of the natural and man-made substrates in the periods from September 2010 to April 2012 and from January to May 2014. As a result, 68 species of cyanobacteria were identified; 33 species were presented for the first time for the Barents Sea. The representatives of 5 families are the basis of the cyanobacterial periphyton community in the littoral area of the bay: Pseudanabaenaceae, Phormidiaceae, Chroococcaceae, Synechococcaceae and Xenococcaceae, which consist 69.1 % of the total abundance of species. The dominant species are Leibleinia nordgaardii, L. epiphytica, Gloeocapsopsis crepidinum, Calothrix scopulorum, Pseudophormidium battersii, Leptolyngbya fragilis. The greatest number of periphyton cyanobacteria species is presented by the inanimate substrates fouler and epiphytes, planktonic forms. The benthic, periphytic-benthic and eurybiontic species are rare. The cyanobacterial community is mainly a maritime; the freshwater species occupy the subdominant position; the brackish and euryhaline forms are rare. Specific diversity and similarity within the periphytic cyanobacteria community, determined by the Jaccard, Simpson and Shannon-Weaver indexes, indicate the presence of favourable, but various habitats in different parts of the littoral zone on Kola Bay. We revealed 25 cyanobacteria indicator species. On the basis of the Pantle-Buck saprobity index (modified by Sladecek) we estimate the waters quality of the stations as transitional from clean to moderately polluted (from oligo- to β-mesosaprobic).

Keywords

cyanobacteria, periphyton, ecological form, similarity index, diversity index, saprobic indicator, Kola Bay, the Barents Sea

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