Algal Communities Along the Sava River

Abstract

Field analysis of phytoplankton and phytobenthos communities of the river Sava has been performed, from Slovenia to Serbia, in August 2011 and September 2012 at 20 localities. A total number of 256 taxa have been determined, from eight divisions: Cyanobacteria (20), Rhodophyta (1), Dinophyta (6), Cryptophyta (1), Chrysophyta (1), Bacillariophyta (152), Chlorophyta (67) and Euglenophyta (8). In the phytoplankton samples, 188 taxa have been identified and in the phytobenthos samples 153 taxa. The most diverse divisions of phytoplankton of the river Sava were Bacillariophyta (46.28 % of total taxa number) and Chlorophyta (34.57 % of total taxa number). Biomass of phytoplankton was low, and the abundance of phytoplankton communities varied between 65,000 and 412,000 Ind L À1 . The biomass of phytoplankton of the river Sava was in the range of 41 to 564 μg fr. wt. L À1 . The phytobenthos dominated by the division of Bacillariophyta, making 81.7 % of the community. Visible macroaggregations were composed of Cladophora glomerata (Chlorophyta) and Thorea hispida (Rhodophyta).

Abiotic factors controlling the seasonal and spatial patterns of phytoplankton community in the Tigris River, Turkey

“…Phytoplankton composition in rivers reflects specific habitat conditions resulting from water movement through submerged macrophytes (epiphytic species), resuspended muddy sediments (epipelic species), or slow‐flowing pelagic habitats (truly planktonic species; Hudon, ). The total number of taxa was found to be higher in the Tigris River compared to those of other European rivers, such as the Ebro (165 taxa; Tornes, Perez, Duran, & Sabater, ), Sava (188 taxa; Simic, Karadzic, Cvijan, & Vasiljevic, ), Po (272 taxa; Tavernini et al, ), Ter (74 taxa; Sabater, ), Meuse (237 taxa; Descy, Servais, Smitz, Billen, & Everbecq, ), Emajogi (204 taxa; Piirsoo et al, ), and Aliakmon (122 taxa; Montesanto, Ziller, Danielidis, & Economou‐Amilli, ). However, the Danube (528 taxa) and Loire (623 taxa) rivers had higher numbers of taxa than that of the Tigris River (Descy, Leitao, Everbecq, Smitz, & Deliege, ; Veraszto et al, ).…”

“…Bacillariophyta and Chlorophyta were also dominant phytoplankton groups in other rivers of Turkey (Altuner & Gürbüz, ; Aygün, ; Öterler, ; Öterler, Kırgız, & Albay, and Soylu & Gönülol, ). In addition, the Tigris phytoplankton exhibited great similarities with those of other large European and Asian rivers, such as the Po, Ebro, Sava, Meuse, Danube, Tees, Euphrates, and Yangtze (Al‐Saadi, Kassim, Al‐Lami, & Salman, ; Descy et al, ; Holmes & Whitton, ; Simic et al, ; Tavernini et al, ; Tornes et al, ; Veraszto et al, ; Zeng, Song, Yu, & Chen, ). In these large rivers, Bacillariophyceae and Chlorophyta were also recorded as the dominant groups.…”

The first characterization of airborne cyanobacteria and microalgae in the Adriatic Sea region

“…However, Tetrastrum sp. is indicated as one of the main greens in the Sava River flowing on the border between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia [65]. So, during our measurements air masses, transported at a height of 500 m AGL, from over the Sava River could be responsible for Tetrastrum sp.…”