Romanov, R.E.; Mallaliev, M.M.; Barinova, S.; Nikulin, V.Y.; Gontcharov, A.A. The Charophytes (Charophyceae, Characeae) from Dagestan Aquatic Habitats, North Caucasus: Biogeographical and Barcoding Perspectives. Environments2023, 10, 153.
Romanov, R.E.; Mallaliev, M.M.; Barinova, S.; Nikulin, V.Y.; Gontcharov, A.A. The Charophytes (Charophyceae, Characeae) from Dagestan Aquatic Habitats, North Caucasus: Biogeographical and Barcoding Perspectives. Environments 2023, 10, 153.
Romanov, R.E.; Mallaliev, M.M.; Barinova, S.; Nikulin, V.Y.; Gontcharov, A.A. The Charophytes (Charophyceae, Characeae) from Dagestan Aquatic Habitats, North Caucasus: Biogeographical and Barcoding Perspectives. Environments2023, 10, 153.
Romanov, R.E.; Mallaliev, M.M.; Barinova, S.; Nikulin, V.Y.; Gontcharov, A.A. The Charophytes (Charophyceae, Characeae) from Dagestan Aquatic Habitats, North Caucasus: Biogeographical and Barcoding Perspectives. Environments 2023, 10, 153.
Abstract
To fill in the blanks for charophytes in the Caucasus to improve our knowledge of species distribution areas in Eurasia, a field survey and study of available specimens from Dagestan (North Caucasus, Russia) was conducted based on morphological observation and molecular genetic analysis. Seventeen new localities for six Chara species and one Tolypella species, with six new species and one new genus for the region studied, and one new species for the Caspian Sea region were found. Some species records changed the outline or filled in the gaps in the species distribution area. The presence of species with a distribution area mainly in the centre of Eurasia (C. globata, C. neglecta) with mainly Mediterranean – Middle East species (C. gymnophylla) is notable for this region, as well as for other studied regions of the Caucasus having a combination of species with different distribution areas. The frequent occurrence of C. gymnophylla points is similar to that in the Mediterranean region and the Middle East. Small brackish waterbodies at the coast of the Caspian Sea, freshwater mountain rivers, small waterbodies associated with them, and water reservoirs are the main habitats of charophytes in the regions. The habitat preference and distribution in the Caucasus allowed suggestion some species for protection. The absence of endemic species among charophytes from Dagestan and Caucasus contrasts with the flora of terrestrial magnoliophytes, which have a large number of endemic species.
Keywords
Characeae; Chara; Tolypella; Dagestan; Caucasus; Caspian Sea; DNA barcoding; protection
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Aquatic Science
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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