Phytoplankton population structure of the Anzali wetland (2010 and 2011)

Phytoplankton groups are very important producers in the Anzali wetland having a significant role in the quality and need to be constantly studied in term of their sequence and density. This survey was conducted at 6 stations between March 2011 and February 2012. According to the results, 67 different genera (22 Bacillariophyta, 26 Chlorophyta, 9 Cyanobacteria, 5 Cryptophyta, 1 Euglenophyta, 2 Chrysophyta, 1Dinoflgellata and 1 Xanthophyta) were identified. Most observed in Sorkhankol and Karkan stations with the annual average of 24.4±5.6 and 20.4± 5.4 cells/ liter respectively. The Bacillariophyta particularly Cyclotella was dominant in all of the stations, but high abundance of Cyanobacteria in Karkan station from July to mid-Octobercaused the annual average of this phylum to be more than Bacillariophyta. The highest and lowest phytoplankton abundances were observed in September and December, respectively.The number of phytoplankton genera and diversity in this study were less than previous studies.