Koreivienė, Judita. 2024. Desmids of the Šepeta raised bog. Šepeta. History of the lost mire: 55–69. Vilnius. https://doi.org/10.35513/NRC.2024.2.05
https://gamtostyrimai.lt/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/2024_Pelke_05_Koreiviene.pdf
SUMMARY
Unique ecosystems of ombrotrophic mires are of great importance for biodiversity conservation, carbon storage, and water level regulation. Desmids, representing one of the most common groups of peatland phythobenthos, are highly sensitive to changes in these ecosystems and therefore serve as valuable bioindicators. V. Vilkaitis, who studied desmid algae of the Šepeta raised bog in the period 1937–1940, when the bog was still undisturbed, identified 57 species, which, according to the modern classification system, are assigned to two orders, i.e. Zygnematales (9 species) and Desmidiales (48 species), five families (Mesotaeniaceae, Zygnemataceae, Peniaceae, Desmidiaceae, Closteriaceae) and 19 genera. More than 15% of the 373 desmid species and intraspecific taxa recorded in Lithuania were found in the Šepeta raised bog. More than three-quarters of the Šepeta bog desmid species are common in Lithuania, but seven species (Actinotaenium palangula, Cosmarium sphagnicola, Closterium acutum var. linea, Mesotaenium endlicherianum var. grande, Pleurotaenium tridentulum, Staurastrum furcatum var. aciculiferum, Staurastrum simonyi) are rare, and three species (Cosmarium crenatum, C. exiguum var. pressum, Cylindrocystis brebissonii var. turgida) have not been detected in other wetlands of Lithuania. The latter desmid species are characteristic of vulnerable, low-pH habitats that are susceptible to environmental changes. Hence, the Šepeta raised bog conversion into a peat extraction area is deemed to lead to the irreversible loss of these species.
Key words: Desmidiales, green algae, Lithuania, Vincas Vilkaitis, Zygnematales.
Language: Lithuanian; Abstract – English
E-mail: judita.koreiviene@gamtc.lt
Nature Research Centre
