Journal
DIVERSITY-BASEL
Volume 13, Issue 11, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/d13110583
Keywords
phytoplankton; algae and cyanobacteria flora; indicator species; long-term changes; wetlands; trophic state; Ramsar object; Israel
Categories
Funding
- Israel Nature and Parks Authority
- Israeli Ministry of Aliyah and Integration
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This study focused on the algae and cyanobacteria species of Lake Hula and Hula Nature Reserve, identifying water quality bioindicators and showing changes in these species over a century. The findings indicated an increase in salinity and organic pollution in recent years.
Lake Hula, the core of one of the most extensive wetland complexes in the Eastern Mediterranean, was drained in 1951-1958. However, about 350 hectares of papyrus marshes were allocated in the southwestern part of the previous lake and became the Hula Nature Reserve status, the first of two wetlands in Israel included in the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance. The list of algae and cyanobacteria species of Lake Hula was compiled by us for the first time based on data from publications of 1938-1958, as well as our research in the Hula Nature Reserve, obtained within the framework of the monitoring program for 2007-2013. The list includes 225 species and intraspecies of algae and cyanobacteria belonging to eight phyla. The dynamics of the species richness of algae and cyanobacteria flora for 1938-2013 are shown. Species-bioindicators of water quality have been identified, and the change in their composition by ecological groups for a period of about a hundred years has been shown. Based on the species richness of algae communities, water quality indices were calculated with particular attention to changes in trophic status during the study period. The algae flora of Lake Hula and Hula Nature Reserve was found to be similar, but bioindication has revealed an increase in salinity and organic pollution in recent years.
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