Contribution of Autotrophic Communities to the Formation of Primary Production in the Ecosystem of the Rybinsk Reservoir

Abstract

On the basis of our own and published data, the contribution of autotrophic communities to the total primary production in the ecosystem of the Rybinsk Reservoir was estimated during the vegetation season in 2009. The contributions were as follows: 390 198 t C for phytoplankton, 6100 t C for epiphyton, 115 550 t C for macrophytes, and 1491 t C for phytobenthos. Higher aquatic plants constituted 74.4% of the total primary production in the littoral zone of the reservoir, which occupies 4.1% of the reservoir area.