Algae of El-Farafra Oasis
Abdullah Antar Saber Mohammed Atia;
Abstract
The following study is the first of its kind to El-Farafra Oasis. It includes a detailed monography on species composition and algal assemblages of different air, water and soil habitats during two successive seasons: summer 2011 and winter 2012. The work contains a taxonomic list of 101 different algal taxa related to 56 genera: Cyanophycophyta (64 taxa), Bacillariophycophyta (3 taxa), Xanthophycophyta (7 taxa), Euglenophycophyta (4 taxa), Chlorophycophyta (22 taxa) and Charophycophyta (one species). Of these, 10 species were recorded for the first time in the Egyptian air, freshwater and soil algal flora: Westiellopsis prolifica, Cylindrospermum gregarium, C. licheniforme, Symploca dubia, Chlorocloster caudatus, Tetraktis aktinastroides, Penium margaritaceum, Cosmarium blyttii, Zygnemopsis sp. and Nitellopsis obtusa.
This study isolated only five airborne algal taxa during the summer collection: Myxosarcina chroococcoides, Westiellopsis prolifica, Oscillatoria acuminata, Lyngbya limnetica and Schizothrix braunii. Therefore, it can be concluded that high temperature and dryness characterizing the summer season in El-Farafra Oasis resulted in flaking up of dried airborne algal propagules from the soil surface and other ecosystems into the air. In addition, Cyanophycophyta tend be the widely-dispersed division as airborne algae.
Springs and their counterpart habitats “wells” inhabiting El-Farafra Oasis are considered to be relatively isolated ecosystems from the physico-chemical and phycological standpoints. Ain El-Balad could be classified as the only “slightly hot” spring, whereas Ain El-Hateyya, Ain Bishwa and Ain Goshna commonly follow the ambient-to-thermal gradients. The drilled wells have thermal-to-hot gradients. All springs, except Ain Goshna, and wells could be assorted as typically freshwater habitats with almost circumneutral to slightly alkaline pH. Ca/Na-chloride salts constituted the dominant water salts in El-Farafra Oasis, with some noticeable contributions by Mg/Ca-bicarbonates and sulphates.
The studied groundwater habitats (springs and birs) in El-Farafra Oasis are considered suitable, to a large extent, for human drinking and all other domestic purposes in the context of the maximum-permissible water quality guidelines proposed by the Egyptian Higher Committee for Water “EHCW” and the World Health organization “WHO”. However, they still essentially need a special governmental attention to eliminate /or reduce the relatively higher concentrations of trace elements specifically Fe and Mn. Furthermore, groundwater of El-Farafra Oasis is considered an excellent-to-good resource for irrigation based on the conductivity gradients and Cl- concentrations.
76 different algal taxa had been identified from all water habitats including the naturally-propagated and culturing materials. For more details, 64 species were recorded from the natural collected materials and belonged to: Cyanophycophyta (38 taxa), Bacillariophycophyta (3 taxa), Xanthophycophyta (2 taxa), Euglenophycophyta (4 taxa), Chlorophycophyta (16 taxa) and Charophycophyta (one taxon). For the culturing waters, 27 species had been revealed, and out of them new 12 species appeared using the different culturing techniques
This study isolated only five airborne algal taxa during the summer collection: Myxosarcina chroococcoides, Westiellopsis prolifica, Oscillatoria acuminata, Lyngbya limnetica and Schizothrix braunii. Therefore, it can be concluded that high temperature and dryness characterizing the summer season in El-Farafra Oasis resulted in flaking up of dried airborne algal propagules from the soil surface and other ecosystems into the air. In addition, Cyanophycophyta tend be the widely-dispersed division as airborne algae.
Springs and their counterpart habitats “wells” inhabiting El-Farafra Oasis are considered to be relatively isolated ecosystems from the physico-chemical and phycological standpoints. Ain El-Balad could be classified as the only “slightly hot” spring, whereas Ain El-Hateyya, Ain Bishwa and Ain Goshna commonly follow the ambient-to-thermal gradients. The drilled wells have thermal-to-hot gradients. All springs, except Ain Goshna, and wells could be assorted as typically freshwater habitats with almost circumneutral to slightly alkaline pH. Ca/Na-chloride salts constituted the dominant water salts in El-Farafra Oasis, with some noticeable contributions by Mg/Ca-bicarbonates and sulphates.
The studied groundwater habitats (springs and birs) in El-Farafra Oasis are considered suitable, to a large extent, for human drinking and all other domestic purposes in the context of the maximum-permissible water quality guidelines proposed by the Egyptian Higher Committee for Water “EHCW” and the World Health organization “WHO”. However, they still essentially need a special governmental attention to eliminate /or reduce the relatively higher concentrations of trace elements specifically Fe and Mn. Furthermore, groundwater of El-Farafra Oasis is considered an excellent-to-good resource for irrigation based on the conductivity gradients and Cl- concentrations.
76 different algal taxa had been identified from all water habitats including the naturally-propagated and culturing materials. For more details, 64 species were recorded from the natural collected materials and belonged to: Cyanophycophyta (38 taxa), Bacillariophycophyta (3 taxa), Xanthophycophyta (2 taxa), Euglenophycophyta (4 taxa), Chlorophycophyta (16 taxa) and Charophycophyta (one taxon). For the culturing waters, 27 species had been revealed, and out of them new 12 species appeared using the different culturing techniques
Other data
| Title | Algae of El-Farafra Oasis | Other Titles | طـحالب واحة الـفرافـرة | Authors | Abdullah Antar Saber Mohammed Atia | Issue Date | 2016 |
Attached Files
| File | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|
| G11360.pdf | 13.48 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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