Establishing a national database for aquatic plants, macroalgae and phytoplankton in the aquatic ecosystems of the country – phase 1: the relevant conducted studies

Abstract

Considering the significant importance of aquatic plants, macroalgae and phytoplankton from different viewpoints (ecological, resource management, economic, social, research, etc.), the creation of a comprehensive information bank potentially plays an important role in achieving the foreseen goals in related fields at the national level. In other words, with the implementation of this project, we can provide a summary of the strengths and weaknesses of the relevant existing information to the researchers as well as to the scientific and administrative planning authorities of the country in order to spend the national budget fully in line with the needs and the scientific priorities of the country. In order to implement this plan, the relevant information available in the country from different point of views, i.e. geographic regions (marine and freshwater ecosystems), the studied taxa, types and applications of relevant studies, types of publications and … were collected. Based on studies conducted at the national level, generally more than 284 species of aquatic and semi-aquatic vascular plants in the country is reported that the species are belonging to 127 genera and 57 families. Among them 80.3% of the species are helophytes, 13.9% submerged, 3.5% floating leaved and 2.3% free floating. In terms of distribution, the highest and lowest number of aquatic plants has been identified in the northern and eastern regions of the country, respectively. Currently, the latest checklist of marine macroalgae, published in the country, consists of 309 species, of which 78 species within 15 families are belonging to green algae and 70 species within seven families are belonging to brown algae. Moreover, among the red algae 161 species from 30 families have been reported. The number of phytoplankton species identified in the southern part of the Caspian Sea is about 491 species, which are belonging to 11 phyla. The phyla Bacillariophyta, Chlorophyta, Cyanophyta, Pyrrophyta and Euglenophyta have the highest number of species with 186, 110, 80, 71 and 28 species, respectively. In the case of inland waters, comprehensive and coherent studies that cover the entire country are not available. However, in total, 802 species of phytoplankton belonging to the phyla Bacillariophyta, Chlorophyta, Cyanophyta, Euglenophyta, Pyrrophyta, Chrysophyta, Xantophyta and Cryptophyta are listed in inland waters of the country. Among them, Bacillariophyta with 285 species, comprising 36% of all the species and included the largest number of species. The phyla Chlorophyta, Cyanophyta, Euglenophyta and Pyrrophyta are in the following/subsequent orders, respectively. The number of phytoplankton species identified in the Persian Gulf is 244, including 124 species of Bacillariophyta, 114 species of dinoflagellates, 5 species of green-blue algae, 1 species of Chrysophyta and 1 species of Euglenophyta. Among the 283 reviewed scientific sources, number of the articles published in valid scientific journals, articles published in scientific conferences, scientific reports, books and MSc and PhD theses were 158, 52, 54, 11 and 8, respectively. In general, with the review of various scientific sources, it can be concluded that studies and researches on aquatic plants, macroalgae and phytoplanktons in the country's aquatic ecosystems (especially from the viewpoints of biodiversity, distribution and genetic characteristics) are relatively limited and the current scientific weaknesses, especially compared with terrestrial organisms (and even other aquatic organisms), is quite evident.