Survey and collection of modern diatom assemblages in the alpine lakes of Romania
A field excursion was conducted by our research team led by Professor Enikő Magyari from the 4th to 8th of July 2024, covering two lakes namely Bâlea (2034 m a.s.l.) and Latoriței (1530 m a.s.l.) located in Romanian mountains of Făgăraș and Parâng massif of the Southern Carpathians. One of our research members, Vidhya Marina, sampled modern diatom communities targeting their dominant habitats, as they prevail and colonize mainly within the photic zone in all types of waterbodies. These habitats include the limnic strata of varying depth (planktonic); substrates like cobble-sized rocks along the lake littoral zone (epilithic), from submerged plants/ parts of plants (epiphytic), and submerged wood (epidendritic) where diatoms grow attached.
Due to absence of any aquatic or submerged vegetation along the shores of lake Bâlea, only planktonic and epilithic diatom communities were sampled, along with submerged algal biofilm which could have attached diatoms growing on it.
In lake Latoriței, along with planktonic diatom communities, sampling of submerged aquatic plants of Spagarium angustifolium, submerged stems of Caryx and submerged stems + roots of shrub Comarum palustre were carried out for assessing attached diatom communities. Epilithic and epidendritic samples was also collected.
The aim is to investigate these lakes for the prevalent diatom groups that would in-change reflect the current lake ecosystem influenced by driving factors like lake pH, trophic level, pollution, etc. as a result of climatic or anthropogenic impact. The fieldwork was successfully carried out with the sample collection and associated lake and vegetation data, which will soon be examined with thorough scrutiny in order to provide valuable results and interpretations.