PIGMENT CONTENT IN PHYTOPLANKTON, EPIPHYTON AND BOTTOM SEDIMENTS OF LAKE NERO

Abstract

This article presents new data of spectrophotometric determination of pigment concentrations in phytoplankton, epiphyton and bottom sediments of the shallow highly productive Lake Nero based on survey materials in summer 2017. The average concentrations of chlorophyll a were 73.5±6.1 μg/L in phytoplankton and 40.7±21.4 mg/m2 of substrate in epiphyton, the sum of chlorophyll a with pheopigments in bottom sediments was 313±20.6 μg/g dry sediment. These values are comparable to those in the previous observation years. The parameters of pigment degradation were characterized by low values in the functioning communities of phytoplankton and epiphyton and reached the highest values in bottom sediments. The spatial distribution of algal pigments depended on the presence of macrophyte thickets. Overgrowing of the territory with macrophytes affected the content of pigments in phytoplankton negatively but the pigment accumulation in bottom sediments positively. The trophic state of the lake remains hypertrophic, as in previous years of observation.