INFLUENCE OF ANTHROPOGENIC POLLUTION ON MACROPHYTOBENTHOS OF THE AVACHA BAY (SOUTHEAST KAMCHATKA, RUSSIA)
Most industrial and agricultural enterprises of the Kamchatsky district are situated along the coast of the Avacha Bay and its river drainage. Intensive water pollution resulted in extreme deterioration of the bay's ecology. The destruction of macrophytobenthos under the influence of pollution...
| Published in: | Journal of Phycology |
|---|---|
| Main Authors: | , |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley
2000
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1529-8817.1999.00001-110.x https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1046%2Fj.1529-8817.1999.00001-110.x https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1046/j.1529-8817.1999.00001-110.x |
| Summary: | Most industrial and agricultural enterprises of the Kamchatsky district are situated along the coast of the Avacha Bay and its river drainage. Intensive water pollution resulted in extreme deterioration of the bay's ecology. The destruction of macrophytobenthos under the influence of pollution was investigated. Materials were regularly collected at the same sampling sites in different seasons of the year from 1988 up to 1999. Analysis of our data allowed us to determine directions of long‐term changes of species composition and macrophytobenthos structure, speed of degradation of different types of vegetational communities and reasons for all these processes. The Avacha Bay's flora consisted of more than 160 species up to 1970s, including species belonged to 104 genera, 47 families, 23 orders, 3 divisions (30 Chlorophyta, 48 Phaeophyta, 82 Rhodophyta). Flora of the internal part of the bay differed from that of the bay's mouth and consisted of 143 and 146 species, respectively. Presently, the whole flora of the bay (internal part+ throat) includes only 94 species. Along the urban coast 18 poly‐ and mesosaprobious species are found only. They are characterized by small sizes, low productivity and short life cycles. Most of them are ephemeral with a primitive morphology. The responsive reaction of algae to pollution resulted in decreases in size and weight of the thalli, and appearance of anomalies of development. Laminaria bongardiana was used as a bioindicator. The changes of weight and sizes of its plants allow us to determine degree of the pollution in different parts of the coast of the Avacha Bay. |
|---|