Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Comunidades algales bentónicas de algunas fuentes del marjal Oliva-Pego, Comunidad Valenciana, España

2010; Volume: 29; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.23818/limn.29.24

2660-8537

Enrique A. Cantoral-Uriza, Marina Aboal,

Mediterranean and Iberian flora and fauna

Benthic algal communities of some sources of the Oliva-Pego marsh, Valencia, SpainThe Oliva-Pego marsh is an important rice and citrus growing area in the Spanish Levant.The marsh is situated in the area of maximal rainfall of the Autonomous Community of Valencia and has high temperatures year-round.This marsh presents a conductivity gradient that goes from fresh water to brackish in its main inflowing streams, which gives way to a large variety of macro and microalgae, that form characteristic groups in the different conditions.Several of these species show tropical afſnity.The results of two samplings in 1999 are presented, which were carried out in the most contrasting environmental zones -those of minimum and maximum rainfall.In each sampling site (four water bodies: Bullent River, Ullal River close to the Bullent, Bassa Sineu and the Font Sallat) pH, temperature, electrical conductivity, dissolved oxygen, current velocity, depth, and cationic and anionic contents of the water were assessed.The communities studied were constituted by structural species of Cyanophyceae and Chlorophyceae.Diatoms were the most diverse group, while Cyanophyceae and Chlorophyceae formed the visible elements.As structural elements, the presence of Homoeothrix juliana (Meneghini) Kirchner and Schizothrix fasciculata (Nägeli) Gomont was to be noteed in oligohaline waters and Chaetophorales, Phormidium tenue (Meneghini) Gomont, Calothrix pulvinata Kützing and Pleurocapsales in slightly brackish waters.The diatoms Encyonopsis microcephala Grunow Krammer, Cymbella afſnis Kützing and Navicula cryptotenella Lange-Bertalot were responsible for their chlorophyll c contribution in two streams (RǼo Bullent and Ullal), while Hyalodiscus whitneyi Ehrenberg, Nitzschia gracilis Hantzsch, Navicella pusilla (Grunow) Krammer and Cocconeis placentula var.euglypta (Ehrenberg) Grunow were responsible in Font Salat, and Rhoicosphenia abbreviata (C.Agardh) Lange-Bertalot was responsible in Bassa Sineu.Characteristic communities of the different degrees of water salinity were observed in the different water bodies, composed of species with afſnity for those conditions.The sources in the marsh are fundamental as consistent providers of water, with a constancy in the species within the community, This is why they can be used as equilibrium indicators of the system, in order to understand the combined effects of salinity and water regime on marsh biodiversity.This information is important as an environmental referent for water policies and legislative measures with water quality indicators of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) of the European Community (EC), and offers a precedent for the improvement of ecological quality of both freshwater and marine systems.