Species composition and diversity of epipelic algae in Balikli Dam Reservoir, Turkey.

Between May and November 2006, the epipelic algal flora and its seasonal variations in the Balikli Dam Reservoir were investigated. A total of 55 species were identified, most of which belonged to the Bacillariophyta (31). Other taxonomic groups present were Chlorophyta (9), Cyanoprokaryota (8) and Euglenophyta (7). Navicula cryptocephala, N. veneta and Hannaea arcus were the most important species, regarding frequency of occurrence and relative abundance in the epipelic algal flora. While the highest densityof epipelic community was found to be 28527 cells cm(-2) in September, the lowest density was 24929 cells cm(-2) in August. The highest Shannon-Weaver diversity index (H') in the epipelic flora was found to be 2.764 in August. Cluster analysis was applied to the epipelic algal community. In this study ice, light, rainfall and water temperature were found to be the most important factors in regulating the growth of epipelic community in Balikli dam reservoir.