The Merzse marsh, preserver of diatoms’ genetic diversity
Abstract
Benthic diatom investigations were carried out in February, April and September 2002 on the Merzse marsh, which is a small protected area near Budapest (Hungary). The vascular plant flora and bird fauna o f the marsh indicate fairly good conditions, but little attention has been paid on the state of non-vascular plants and invertebrates of the area up to now. However, these are appropriate subjects of quality assessment and survey. We used two different systems to carry out the quality assessment: the water-qualifying system of Hofmann and the red list of Lange-Bertalot. The former furnishes data on the trophic and saprobic state o f the water, while the latter provides information on the degree of penetration of certain taxa in natural habitats. We concluded that the quality of the marsh water is intermediate. It means it is eutrophic and beta-alpha-mesosaprobic, and with these values similar to most of the surface waters in Hungary, which are severely impacted by human activities. We found a series o f valuable diatom species, which are characterised by decreasing stocks all over the world. All in all, the Merzse marsh represents a valuable wetland worth further protection and benthic diatom investigations contribute a lot to the better knowledge and qualifying of it. For further molecular genetic studies we have begun the culturing of some species.
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