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Biodiversity of benthic diatom flora in the coastal zone of Puck Bay (southern Baltic Sea): a case study of the Hel Peninsula

Małgorzata Witak
Małgorzata Witak
, 
Jarosław Pędziński
Jarosław Pędziński
, 
Sandra Oliwa
Sandra Oliwa
 and 
Dominika Hetko
Dominika Hetko
   | Sep 25, 2020
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Article Category: Research Article
Published Online: Sep 25, 2020
Page range: 304 - 318
Received: Jan 03, 2020
Accepted: Apr 07, 2020
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/ohs-2020-0027
© 2020 Faculty of Oceanography and Geography, University of Gdańsk, Poland
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Figure 1

Location of the sampling sites in the Hel Peninsula; 1 – stones, 2 – sands, 3 – seagrass, 4 – macroalgae, RD – Rzucewo Deep, KP – Kuźnica Passage
Location of the sampling sites in the Hel Peninsula; 1 – stones, 2 – sands, 3 – seagrass, 4 – macroalgae, RD – Rzucewo Deep, KP – Kuźnica Passage

Figure 2

Percentage content of the diatom ecological groups in epilithon and epipsammon
Percentage content of the diatom ecological groups in epilithon and epipsammon

Figure 3

Frequency of the main diatom taxa in epilithon and epipsammon; eu-meso – eu-mesotraphentic, meso – mesotraphentic, oligo – oligotraphentic
Frequency of the main diatom taxa in epilithon and epipsammon; eu-meso – eu-mesotraphentic, meso – mesotraphentic, oligo – oligotraphentic

Figure 4

Percentage content of diatom ecological groups in epiphyton (seagrass and macroalgae)
Percentage content of diatom ecological groups in epiphyton (seagrass and macroalgae)

Figure 5

Frequency of the main diatom taxa in epiphyton (seagrass and macroalgae); eu-meso – eu-mesotraphentic, meso – mesotraphentic, oligo – oligotraphentic
Frequency of the main diatom taxa in epiphyton (seagrass and macroalgae); eu-meso – eu-mesotraphentic, meso – mesotraphentic, oligo – oligotraphentic

Distribution and autecology of the main diatom taxa in the study area

Diatom taxa Salinity

for explanations see Table 3

 Trophic status

for explanations see Table 3

 Saprobity

for explanations see Table 3

 Habitat
Epilithon Epipsammon Epiphyton
Cocconeis pediculus Ehrenberg oh et bms ✓
C. placentula var. euglypta (Ehrenberg) Grunow oi et bms ✓ ✓ ✓
C. placentula var. placentula Ehrenberg oi et bms ✓
C. scutellum var. scutellum Ehrenberg eh et bms ✓
Catenula adhaerens Mereschkovsky eh et bms ✓
Ctenophora pulchella (Ralfs ex Kützing) D.M. Williams & Round oh et ams ✓
Denti cula creti cola (Østrup) Lange-Bertalot & Krammer mh ir ir ✓
Diatoma moniliformis (Kützing) D.M. Williams oh et bms ✓ ✓
Diatoma tenuis C. Agardh oi mt ams ✓
Fallacia clepsidroides Witkowski mh ir ir ✓ ✓
Gedaniella fl avovirens (Takano) Li, Witkowski & Ashworth mh et ams ✓ ✓
G. guenter-grassii (Witkowski & Lange-Bertalot) Li, Sato & Witkowski mh ot os ✓ ✓ ✓
G. mutabilis (Grunow) Li & Witkowski mh et bms ✓ ✓ ✓
Gomphonema olivaceum (Hornemann) Ehrenberg oi emt bms ✓
Gomphonemopsis obscura (Krasske) Lange-Bertalot mh ir ir ✓
Halamphora coffeaeformis (C. Agardh) Mereschkowsky eh et ams ✓ ✓
Mastogloia pumila (Grunow) Cleve eh ir ir ✓
M. smithii Thwaites ex W. Smith oh ir ir ✓
N. germanopolonica Witkowski & Lange-Bertalot mh emt bms ✓
N. gregaria Donkin mh et ams ✓ ✓
N. paul-schulzii Witkowski & Lange-Bertalot mh ir ir ✓ ✓
N. perminuta Grunow in Van Heurck mh mt ps ✓ ✓
Nitzschia frustulum (Kützing) Grunow oh et bms ✓ ✓ ✓
Opephora krumbeinii Witkowski, Witak & Stachura eh et bms ✓ ✓
Planothidium delicatulum (Kützing) Round & Bukhti yarova mh et bms ✓ ✓
P. engelbrechti i (Cholnoky) Round & Bukhti yarova mh et bms ✓
Rhoicosphaenia abbreviata (C. Agardh) Lange-Bertalot oh et ams ✓ ✓
Staurosira venter (Ehrenberg) Cleve & Möller oi met bms ✓
Tabularia fasciculata (C.Agardh) D.M.Williams & Round mh et abms ✓ ✓

The number of diatom taxa (species, subspecies, varieties, forms) vs ecological preferences

Salinity

eh – euhalobous, mh – mesohalobous, oh – oligohalobous halophilous, oi – oligohalobous indifl erent

 Trophic status

et – eutraphentic, emt – eu-mesotraphentic, mt – mesotraphentic, ot – oligotraphentic, edt – eu-dystraphentic, ir – irrelevant

 Saprobity

ps – polysaprobous, ams – α-mesosaprobous, abms – α-β-mesosaprobous, bms – β-mesosaprobous, os – oligosaprobous, x – xenosaprobous, ir – irrelevant

 Total
eh mh oh oi et emt mt ot edt ir ps ams abms bms os x ir
Epilithon 8 27 16 21 35 10 2 5 1 19 2 17 3 24 4 - 22 72
Epipsammon 12 36 17 25 39 13 4 8 1 25 2 13 4 26 8 1 36 90
Epiphyton 13 33 17 22 33 8 4 7 2 31 2 16 3 22 2 1 39 85
Total 19 50 24 40 51 17 7 12 2 44 2 21 5 36 13 1 55 133

Parameters of the analyzed samples

Samples Φ λ Location Type of substrate
sediments macroflora
stones sand seagrass macroalgae
HP1/1014 54°35ʹ34.2ʹʹN 18°48ʹ38.8ʹʹE Hel ✓ ✓
HP2/1014 54°35ʹ39.3ʹʹN 18°48ʹ35.7ʹʹE Hel ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
HP3/1014 54°35ʹ41.2ʹʹN 18°48ʹ30.6ʹʹE Hel ✓ ✓ ✓
HP4/1014 54°36ʹ22.7ʹʹN 18°47ʹ59.6ʹʹE Hel ✓ ✓ ✓
HP5/1014 54°40ʹ51.98ʹʹN 18°42ʹ29.48ʹʹE Jurata ✓ ✓ ✓
HP6/1014 54°40ʹ56.3ʹʹN 18°42ʹ36.4ʹʹE Jurata ✓ ✓ ✓
HP7/1014 54°41ʹ38.6ʹʹN 18°40ʹ21.1ʹʹE Jastarnia ✓ ✓ ✓
HP8/1014 54°41ʹ45.5ʹʹN 18°40ʹ13.8ʹʹE Jastarnia ✓ ✓
HP9/1014 54°47ʹ10.4ʹʹN 18°25ʹ18.3ʹʹE Jastarnia ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
HP10/1014 54°41ʹ05.4ʹʹN 18°40ʹ13.3ʹʹE Kuźnica ✓ ✓ ✓
HP11/1014 54°44ʹ01.2ʹʹN 18°35ʹ13.2ʹʹE Kuźnica ✓ ✓
HP12/1014 54°44ʹ13.3ʹʹN 18°34ʹ42.7ʹʹE Kuźnica ✓ ✓ ✓
HP13/1014 54°44ʹ52.1ʹʹN 18°32ʹ47.1ʹʹE Chałupy ✓ ✓ ✓
HP14/1014 54°45ʹ30.3ʹʹN 18°30ʹ59.1ʹʹE Chałupy ✓ ✓ ✓
HP15/1014 54°45ʹ40.6ʹʹN 18°30ʹ24.1ʹʹE Chałupy ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
HP16/1014 54°46ʹ29.9ʹʹN 18°27ʹ56.5ʹʹE Chałupy ✓ ✓ ✓

Classification of the diatom flora according to autecological preferences

Habitat: Salinity:
planktic – living in the water column euhalobous – marine species with the optimum at salinity of 30–40 PSU
benthic – developing on any type of substrate: mesohalobous – brackish-water species living at salinity of 5–20 PSU
          epilithon – growing on stones oligohalobous – species living in fresh water:
          epiphyton – growing on plants           halophilous – reaching the optimum at salinity < 5 PSU
          epipsammon – growing on sands           indifferent – euryhaline forms tolerating a low content of salts
          halophobous – stenohaline forms that do not tolerate even the lowest salinity
Trophic status: Saprobity:
eutraphentic – living in very fertile water polysaprobous – living in heavily polluted water
eu-mesotraphenti c – living in fertile water α-mesosaprobous – living in moderately polluted water
mesotraphentic – living in water of moderate fertility α-β-mesosaprobous – living in intermediate conditions between α- and β-mesosaprobity
meso-oligotraphenti c – living in relatively nutrient-poor water
oligotraphentic – living in nutrient-poor water β-mesosaprobous – living in less polluted water
eu-dystraphenti c – diatoms with high nutrient tolerance oligosaprobous – living in low polluted water
xenosaprobous – living in clean water
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