Diatom Flora in Three Springs of Golestan Province
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Diatom flora in three Springs of Golestan Province Latifeh Ahmadi Musaabad1, Jamileh Panahy Mirzahasanlou1*, Mojtaba G.Mahoodlu2, Arsalan Bahlakeh3 Received: 2019-08-29 Revised and accepted: 2019-11-01 Abstract Keywords: Epilithon, Epipelon, Gol-e- Springs are highly important habitats for Ramian Spring, Nilberg Spring, Seyyed biodiversity trend. Hence three springs in Kalateh Spring. Golestan Province were selected for floris- tic study of diatom assemblages. Samples Introduction were collected seasonally from stony and Springs are unique aquatic habitats and sediment substrates. In total, 75 taxa belong can be defined as linkage between terrestrial to 38 genera were identified. Gomphonema and aquatic ecosystems, ground and surface and Nitzschia each with 7 species, Navicu- waters. There is high habitat complexity and la with 6 species, Surirella with 5 species large number of different types of springs and Cymbella with 4 species were the most which allows them to be the important com- species-rich genera. Results revealed that ponent of riverine landscape biodiversity. Gol-e-Ramian Spring with 61 taxa had the Springs are often very small, but they are highest species richness. Achnanthidium numerous and thus, provide habitats for spe- minutissimum,Cocconeis placentula, Fragi- cies that are rare elsewhere because of their laria crotonensis, Gomphonema micropus, sensitivity to anthropogenic (Cantonati et Meridion circulare, Nitzschia vermicularis, al., 2012b).Toxböck et al. (2017) considered and Planothidium frequentissimum were springs as refugial habitats for Swiss fresh- the most abundant taxa. Most of the species water microflora including diatoms. Sabater identified in the present research have been and Roca (1992) while studying diatom dis- observed within running water environments tribution in Pyrenean springs, noted that in in Golestan province and other parts of Iran. comparison with other environments (e.g. Our study improved knowledge about the- streams and subaeria rocks), springs in the diatom communities of springs in Golestan Pyrenees revealed a higher number of taxa province. with poorly-known distribution. Cantona- ti has extensive studies on spring diatoms 1- Department of Biology, Faculty of Basic Science, Gonbad Kavous University, Gonbad Kavous, Iran. 2- Department of Range and Watershed Management, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Gonbad Kavous Uni- versity, Gonbad Kavous, Iran. 3- Department of Fishery, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Gonbad Kavous University, Gonbad Kavous, Iran. *email: [email protected] 432 433 (Cantonati, 1998; Cantonati and Lange-Ber- the Ramian City; and (3) Nilberg Spring is talot, 2010; Cantonati et al., 2012a), howev- located in 4 km away from Ramian city and er he believed that despite their importance is situated in the middle of beautiful forest. for biodiversity and water quality, springs To investigate springs hydrochemistry, water are much less studied than other aquatic eco- samples together with stony substrates were systems (Cantonati et al., 2012b). In Iran, seasonally collected from each spring. Some although in recent years there has been an in- parameters such as electrical conductivity creased interest in diatom studies (Nejadsat- (EC), pH, Temperature (T) and dissolved tari, 2005; Nejadsattari et al., 2007; Shams oxygen (DO) were directly measured at the and Afsharzadeh, 2007; Soltanpour Gargari site. The rest of physicochemical parame- et al., 2011; Kheiri et al., 2019; Pourhey- ters including calcium, magnesium, sodium, dar Khoshkrudi et al., 2014; Panahy Mir- potassium, bicarbonate, sulfate, chloride, zahasanlou et al., 2018), but there is a data nitrate, phosphate, silica, total hardness was lacks in current literature about diatom flo- measured at the water chemistry laboratory ra of springs. There are many springs in the of Gonbad Kavous University. south part of Golestan province. Regarding Benthic diatoms were examined seasonally the importance of springs in biodiversity during 2018 and 2019. Epilithic samples were trend, three springs (Gol-e-Ramian, Seyyed collected from stony substrates by brushing Kalateh, and Nilberg) in the southern part of using a toothbrush; epipelic samples were col- Ramian city selected for this study. lected by gently scooping up the top layer of sediment. Then, samples were fixed with 4% Material and Methods formalin. Preparation for microscopic analysis Ramian county is almost located in mid- was done by acid digestion method (Taylor et dle of Golestan province which is 75 Kilo- al., 2007). Permanent slides were prepared by meter away from Gorgan (Capital of Prov- mounting the cleaned diatom valves in Canada ince). There is green nature and types of Balsam and analyzed using light microscope. streams and springs in this country. In this Identifications were performed using Kram- study, we selected three springs (Fig. 1). All mer and Lange-Bertalot (1986, 1988, 1991a, three springs are situated in south part of 1991b); Krammer, 2000; Lange-Bertalot, Ramian city. (1) Gol-e-Ramian spring is a 2001; Krammer, 2002; Krammer, 2003; Bahls, karstic spring along the road of Ramian to 2006; Bishop et al.,2017; Jüttner et al., 2018. Alang. This spring is in the form of natu- In each slide 300-400 valves were counted to ral pool with length of 90 meters, width of estimate the relative abundances. 80 meters, and a depth of 44 to 80 meters. It is formed on a river. (2) Seyyed Kalateh Results Spring is located in a valley next to Seyyed Preliminary hydrochemistry results Kalateh village. It is about 6 km away from showed calcium and bicarbonate ions are 432 433 the most abundant cation and anions in the of springs water. This is because limestone water of all three springs, respectively (Ta- is most probably the reservoir of the springs ble 1). Hence, Ca-HCO3 is a dominate type in study area. 434 435 434 435 Totally 75 taxa belong to 38 genera were iden- (36.06%), Nitzschia vermicularis (34.98%), tified in this study (Table 2 and Plate I-III) Achnanthidium minutissimum (26.76%), among them 40 taxa were common between Planothidium frequentissimum (23.58%); in three springs. Most of the taxa (71 taxa) be- Seyyed Kalate Spring were Planothidium longed to class Bacillariophyceae; Coscino- frequentissimum (52.13%), Gomphonema discophyceae and Mediophyceae each had micropus (38.9%), Achnanthidium nanum 2 species. Gomphonema and Nitzschia each (35.16%), Meridion circulare (30.06%), Suri- with 7 species were the most species rich gen- rella minuta (15.01%), Cocconeis placentula era; Navicula with 6 species, Surirella with 5 (23.44%); and in Nilberg Spring were Coc- species and Cymbella with 4 species were in coneis placentula (41.06%), Planothidium the next order (Fig. 2). Gol-E-Ramian Spring frequentissimum (40.06%), Navicula rostel- with 61 taxa had the highest species richness; lata (18.85%), Achnanthidium minutissimum following by Seyyed Kalate Spring with 55 (13.17%), Halamphora montana (13.17). taxa and Nilberg Spring with 51 taxa. The ge- nus Gomphonema was the most species rich Discussion genus in the Gol-E-Ramian Spring, but in Similar to early floristic studies (e.g., Seyyed Kalate Spring Navicula with 6 spe- Soltanpour-Gargari et al., 2011; Pourhey- cies and in Nilberg Spring both Navicula and dar Khoshkrudi et al., 2014; Panahy-Mir- Nitzschia each with 6 species had the highest zahasanlou et al., 2018; Kheiri et al., number of species. 2019) the genera Gomphonema, Nitzschia, The most abundant taxa in Gol-E-Ramian Navicula were found as the species rich Spring were Ulnaria ulna (maximum relative genera in our study. abundance 74.14%), Fragilaria crotonensis A comparison of three springs showed that 436 437 436 437 438 439 438 439 40 taxa were observed in all three springs; and Cocconeis placentula as indicator of however, 13 taxa were observed only in carbonate spring types. Moga et al. (2015) Gol-E-Ramina Spring. This may relate to also reported Meridion circulare as creno- hydrology and chemistry of this spring. philous (mainly living in springs). The occurrence of planktonic species such Finally, our study improved the knowl- as Aulacoseira granulata,Discotella stel- edge on diatom communities of springs in ligera, Fragilaria crotonensis in Gol-E- Golestan province and provided fine ob- Ramian Spring is explainable too, due to servations of diatom taxa. the width and depth of the spring.Also, only three species comprising Cymbella References tumida, Diatoma vulgaris and N. Liebe- Bahls LL. (2006). Northwest Diatoms, A Pho- thruthii found in Seyyed Kalate Spring tographic Catalogue of Species in The Mon- and three species Cymatopleura elliptica, tana Diatom Collection. Montana Diatom Nitzschia inconspicua, Pinnularia gracil- Collection. 481 pp. oides var. triundulata in Nilberg Spring. Bayani M. (2018). Investigation of the Epiithic The rest of the species were common be- Diatoms in Gharah Chay River of Ramian tween two springs. in Golestan province. MSc thesis, Gonbad Results revealed that most of the species Kavous University, Gonbad Kavous, Iran (in identified in the present research were ob- Persian). served also by other researchers in running Bishop IW, Esposito RM, Tyree M, Spaulding water environments in Golestan province SA. (2017). A diatom voucher flora from (Dadgar, 2016; Bayani, 2018; Lakzaie et selected southeast rivers (USA). Phytotaxa. al., 2018), and only a limited number of the 332 (2): 101-140. species exclusively found in our research. Cantonati M. (1998). Diatom communities of For