title: Species diversity of heterotrophic flagellates in White Sea littoral sites.
abstract: The species diversity and distribution of benthic heterotrophic flagellates in sediment samples from along the salinity gradient in the Chernaya River Estuary and from Velikaya Salma Strait (Kandalaksha Bay, the White Sea) were investigated during August 2004. One hundred and six taxa have been identified by means of phase and interference contrast light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The majority of observed flagellates were bacterivores. The species diversity of the following groups: choanoflagellates, euglenids, kinetoplastids, bicosoecids, chrysomonads, thaumatomonads and flagellates Incertae sedis was the highest. Ancyromonas sigmoides and Petalomonas pusilla were the most common species. The species richness was lowest in the brackish water estuarine part with salinity levels between 5 per thousand and 8 per thousand. The distribution of heterotrophic flagellates conforms to the so-called "rule of critical salinity", possessing, apparently, the same universal character for organisms of different size levels. Heterotrophic flagellate communities in these littoral sites were highly heterogeneous. The curve of "cumulative species number vs. sampling effort" is well fitted by equation S=21.17N(0.50) and unsaturated, which indicates that more intensive investigations of the heterotrophic flagellates in the White Sea should be expected to reveal more species.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biology of Inland Waters, Russian Academy of Sciences, BOROK, Yaroslavskaya obl. 152 742, Russia. tikhon@ibiw.yaroslavl.ru <tikhon@ibiw.yaroslavl.ru>
authors.forename: Denis Victorovich
authors.initials: DV
authors.lastname: Tikhonenkov
authors.forename: Yuri Alexandrovich
authors.initials: YA
authors.lastname: Mazei
authors.forename: Alexander Petrovich
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Mylnikov
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D056890:Eukaryota / Q000145:classification* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000469:parasitology*; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D012426:Russia; D012623:Seawater; D012965:Sodium Chloride / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D012965:Sodium Chloride