Water monitoring of the reservoir behind the Boostan dam using the Palmer index

The present study was conducted in order to monitor the water of the reservoir behind the Boostan Dam using the phytoplankton population and Palmer index for one and half years. The sampling was done seasonally in five stations from depths of 0.5 to 3 meters using One-liter Ruttner sampler. After identifying phytoplankton species; the Shannon-Wiener diversity index, Margalf richness index, Simpson index, Pillo's species uniformity index, and also Palmer's pollution index were determined. According to abundance, 5 phyllums were the dominant phytoplankton groups; Bacillariophyta (56%), Chlorophyta (23%), Cyanophyta (13%), Euglenophyta (4%), and Pyrophyta (4%). In this area, the Shannon-Wiener diversity index showed an average level of biodiversity. The highest value of the Pielou (0.88) and Simpson (0.95) indices were obtained in the summer. The lowest value of the Margalef index was calculated in the summer with a numerical value of 2.82. The results of Palmer's index showed that the water of reservoir behind the Bostan Dam is categorized at the level of very high organic matter pollution.