Influence of Environmental Conditions on the Phytoplankton Community Assemblages in Süloğlu Reservoir (Edirne, Turkey)

Özet

Freshwater resources are some of the most important basic needs necessary for usage by people, especially for drinkingwater. Reservoirs that are built to store freshwater resources and access water on demand, may be prone to get moreenvironmental effects than natural resources. Phytoplankton, which is the first level of in primary production, is specificallyaffected by environmental changes in different ways. This study investigated the algal flora of Süloğlu Reservoir (Edirne,Turkey) which is utilized as a freshwater reserve, as well as environmental variables influential on its community structure.For this reason a sampling campaign was performed in three stations selected in the reservoir in 3 different depths betweenJanuary 2013 and November 2013. The study found 111 phytoplanktonic algae taxa belong to the divisions of Chlorophyta,Bacillariphyta, Cyanobacteria, Euglenophyta, Charophyta Miozoa and Ochrophyta. Chlorophyta members were generallydominant, and some environmental factors (i.e. light, pH values, temperature) were significantly effective on the distributionof all algal communities. The Shannon diversity values changed in the range of 1.02-2.75. CCA analysis results showed thatthere was a noticeable relationship between water quality parameters (chlorophyll-a, pH and water temperature) and timebased changes in dominant phytoplankton species. Moreover, recommendations were provided for sustainable usage of thereservoir whose trophic level was determined.