The Phytoplankton Composition Features of Five Romanian Pelogenous Ecosystems

Abstract

Planktonic algal samples were collected from lakes with different salinity (Salt Lake Brăila, Amara Lake, Fundata Lake, Techirghiol Lake and Black Lake-Sovata), in which mud used in balneary therapy is formed. A total of 189 species were recorded: 35 Cyanobacteria, 10 Euglenophyceae, 96 Bacillariophyceae, 33 Chlorophyceae, 3 Chrysophyceae, 2 Cryptophyceae, 1 Xantophyceae and 9 Dinophyceae. The highest number of phytoplankton species was recorded in Techirghiol lake (127 species) and the lowest number in Black Lake-Sovata and Salt Lake Brăila (23 species). The species diversity of microalgae was compared in different pelogenous lakes. In the case of Cyanobacteria and Bacillariophyceae, the calculated values for the Sorensen similarity coefficient reflect a weak association of species in the pelogenous lakes, while in the case of Euglenophyceae, Chrysophyceae, Crysophyceae, Dinophyceae, Xanthophyceae classes, the comparison of the species diversity was impossible because they were not found in all the studied biotopes. The composition of the Chlorophyceae class was similar in the plankton of two clusters: cluster 1-Techirghiol lake and Black lake-Sovata; cluster 2-Salt lake-Brăila, Fundata lake. The hypersaline lake Techirghiol was the most algologically productive habitat, here forming the mud with the highest content of organic substance. Salt Lake Brăila and Black Lake-Sovata were the least algologically productive ecosystems; in both lakes mud with mineral developed fraction and organic component in small percentage are formed, although they are biotopes with different salinity, one being hypersaline, the other brackish.

Bioprospecting for Novel Halophilic and Halotolerant Sources of Hydrolytic Enzymes in Brackish, Saline and Hypersaline Lakes of Romania

“…Samples were transported to the laboratory in thermal bags at about 4 • C and processed within 48 h after collection. Salt Lake [22,24], the predominant ions being chloride and sodium, followed by sulfate and considerably lower quantities of magnesium. The biota of these ecosystems has been characterized particularly in terms of phyto-and zooplankton composition [24,28,29], but little or no information about their bacterial, archaeal and fungal communities is currently available [30][31][32].…”

“…Salt Lake [22,24], the predominant ions being chloride and sodium, followed by sulfate and considerably lower quantities of magnesium. The biota of these ecosystems has been characterized particularly in terms of phyto-and zooplankton composition [24,28,29], but little or no information about their bacterial, archaeal and fungal communities is currently available [30][31][32]. Hence, these environments remain largely unexplored reservoirs of microorganisms potentially capable of producing novel bioactive compounds and industrially valuable molecules.…”

“…The degree of mineralization of Lake Amara has varied over recent years between 6.5 and 31 g•L −1 , the dominant ion being sulfate, followed by chloride, sodium and small amounts of magnesium [21][22][23]. The salinity of the other four lakes has also fluctuated between 8.9 and 16 g•L −1 in Lake Balta Alba [21,24], 29 and 45 g•L −1 in Lake Caineni Bai [21,25], 57 and 150 g•L −1 in Movila Miresii Salt Lake [26,27] and 111 and 317 g•L −1 in Braila Salt Lake [22,24], the predominant ions being chloride and sodium, followed by sulfate and considerably lower quantities of magnesium.…”

Microbial Community Structure and Interannual Change in the Last Epishelf Lake Ecosystem in the North Polar Region

“…Historically, these two species have mainly been reported by researchers in Russia and the Ukraine, perhaps because of a greater familiarity with their taxonomic descriptions in those countries. Nearly all microscopic records are from terrestrial, mainly freshwater systems (Compère, 1966;Khondker et al, 2007;Tsarenko, 2008;Demchenko, 2011;Hindáková and Hindák, 2012;Gorokhov, 2013;Tarasova et al, 2013), but also one hypersaline lake (Gheorghievici et al, 2015). However, two marine strains have been brought into culture, both from the Arctic: one from the ice algae community in Baffin Bay (Bigelow National Center for Marine Algae and Microbiota, CCMP1189), and one from the deep chlorophyll maximum of the Beaufort Sea (Balzano et al, 2012).…”

Comprehensive mineralogical and physicochemical characterization of recent sapropels from Romanian saline lakes for potential use in pelotherapy

“…; 1.3 km 2 area; maximum and average depths of ∼ 6 m and ∼ 2 m respectively) is a brackish oxbow lake located in the eastern part of the Romanian Plain 44 . In the last century, the lake witnessed an accentuated desalinization, from ∼ 90 gL −1 in 1987 to 4.5 gL −1 in 1973 44 , while more recent results indicate salinity values of 9.43 gL −1 45 . Amara Lake is the largest chloride-sulfated plain lake in Romania and has a protected status as bird natural reserve and its water and muds have long been utilized for bathing and medicinal purposes.…”