2026 Ecosystem Transformation 9 (4), 14-32

The taxonomic diversity and prognostic assessment of the benthic algoflora species richness in the upper sublittoral of the Crimean Black Sea coast

Petrov A.N. , Evstigneeva I.K.  , Tankovskaya I.N.  

By the results of algological surveys conducted in 2017‒2024 in 43 sublittoral sites along the Crimean Black Sea coast, 140 species, including Rhodophyta (72 species), Chlorophyta (40) and Heterokontophyta (28), have been identified. The highest proportion of the flora (4 species/order) is inherent to the phytocenoses in the pristine areas, while the lowest ratio (less than 3 species/order) is recorded in waters with anthropogenic impact. Analysis of taxonomic distinctness indices (AvTD and VarTD) shown that in ecologically undisturbed waters of the southeastern Crimea, the hierarchical structure of communities does exceed the expected average level for the sublittoral algoflora. The taxonomic structure is predominated by mono- and oligospecific branches converging at family or order levels. Phytocenoses of the southwestern Crimea characterized by negative deviations of AvTD values from the expected average; the hierarchical tree is formed mainly by polyspecific branches joining at genus level. The species with the highest taxonomic exclusiveness (A. arcta, Z. typus, C. savianum, G. longissima and P. dubyi) have been identified; such species form separated monophyletic branch up to order level. The predictive assessment of expected species richness has evidenced that Chao2 estimator gives the closest results to the actual macrophytobenthos inventory (166 species). It is shown, that in a single randomly taken sample about 26%, and in 11 samples up to 75% of sublittoral algal flora can be revealed.

A. N. Petrov
A.O. Kovalevsky Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas, Russian Academy of Sciences
Prospect Nakhimova St. 2, Sevastopol, 299011 Russia

alexpet-14@mail.ru

I. K. Evstigneeva
A.O. Kovalevsky Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas, Russian Academy of Sciences
pr. Nakhimova 2, 299011 Sevastopol

ikevstigneeva@gmail.com

I. N. Tankovskaya
A.O. Kovalevsky Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas, Russian Academy of Sciences
pr. Nakhimova 2, 299011 Sevastopol

itankovskay@gmail.com

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