Phytoplankton in Water Objects of the Vychegda River Basin

Abstract

In 2014, for the first time in the last 55 years, phytoplankton of the water bodies of the Vychegda River Basin has been studied. The basis of plankton communities is made up of algae from Bacillariophyta, Chlorophyta, and Cyanoprokaryota divisions. In terms of quantitative indicators, leading groups with the prevalence of diatoms are identified. The range of abundance and biomass of algae is 3.92–27.82 million cells/L and 0.3–2.9 mg/L, respectively. The biomass of phytoplankton and hydrochemical indices make it possible to classify the studied water objects as second–fourth water-quality classes, with an increase in trophic status under conditions of an anthropogenic load increase.