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Cyanobacterial water bloom of Limnoraphis robusta in the Lago Mayor of Lake Titicaca. Can it develop?

  • PHYTOPLANKTON & SPATIAL GRADIENTS
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Abstract

Cyanobacterial blooms are commonly associated with high concentrations of nutrients in waters. An exception among the species forming heavy water blooms is Limnoraphis robusta Komárek et al. (Fottea 13:39–52, 2013). Until now, heavy water blooms of this species were found only in tropical, rather oligotrophic waters. Filaments of L. robusta contain diazocytes and thus are able to fix molecular nitrogen during night. This ability gives L. robusta an advantage over other phytoplankters to explore nitrogen-poor habitats. In 2014, filaments of this cyanobacterium appeared also in plankton and periphyton in the Bay of Puno, Lake Titicaca, Peru. Accessible data on water chemistry, chlorophyll a concentration, and phytoplankton composition were compared with those from Lake Atitlán, Guatemala, where this cyanobacterium formed a thick brownish layer on the water surface in 2008, 2009 and 2011. Except for shallow bays, both lakes (Atitlán and Lago Mayor of Titicaca) are still oligotrophic in some periods, and phytoplankton growth is limited by lack of nitrogen. In this paper, we are discussing factors which might allow development of heavy bloom of this cyanobacterium in the Lago Mayor and other clear parts of the Lake Titicaca.

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Acknowledgments

This study was realized under the support of the bilateral international collaboration between the Czech Academy of Sciences and CONCYTEC (Peru) 2013–2014. We thank Dr. Gertrud Cronberg, Institute of Limnology, Lund, Sweden, for offering us her unpublished data about the composition of phytoplankton of the Atitlán and Amatitlán lakes from the year 1983. We are indebted to our referees both for comments on the text and helpful cultivation of our English.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biology Centre, Institute of Hydrobiology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Na Sádkách 7, 370 01, České Budějovice, Czech Republic

    Jarka Komárková

  2. Institute of Botany, Czech Academy of Sciences, Dukelská 135, 37982, Třeboň, Czech Republic

    Jarka Komárková & Jiří Komárek

  3. Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos - Museo de Historia Natural, Av. Arenales 1256, Apartado 14-0434, Lima 14, Peru

    Haydée Montoya

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  1. Jarka Komárková
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  2. Haydée Montoya
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  3. Jiří Komárek
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Correspondence to Jarka Komárková.

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Guest editors: Luigi Naselli-Flores & Judit Padisák / Biogeography and Spatial Patterns of Biodiversity of Freshwater Phytoplankton

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Komárková, J., Montoya, H. & Komárek, J. Cyanobacterial water bloom of Limnoraphis robusta in the Lago Mayor of Lake Titicaca. Can it develop?. Hydrobiologia 764, 249–258 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-015-2298-x

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