Pedro Sánchez-Castillo

• University of Granada

Fifty–four streams of the Iberian Peninsula were investigated to document the species richness and phylogeny of Batrachospermum and morphologically similar genera, determine phylogenetic affinities of taxa and infer biogeographic trends. Species were identified using morphology and DNA sequence data for the rbcL gene as follows: Batrachospermum gel...

Cyanobacteria, green algae and diatoms are significant factors in the biodeterioration of stone cultural heritage sites, and specifically fountain monuments, due to the constant presence of water. In this study, samples were taken from di↵erent fountains in the Alhambra and Generalife, which are among the Spanish monuments of greatest historical an...

A new freshwater diatom species Pinnularia baetica sp. nov. is described from two different ponds from the Mediterranean area: Andalucia (South of Spain) and Lake Livadičko, Serbia. The species is described by observations under light (LM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The most similar taxa to P. baetica are P. atlasii and P. infirma that...

Catalogue of coccal green algae from continental waters of Andalusia. In Spain studies on continental aquatic ecosystems have had mainly an ecological approach. In most limnological papers algae are considered as primary producers as a whole, but in general there is no deepening into the identification of these organisms to more concrete levels. In...

Español. Se estudian un total de 206 taxones identificados durante el estudio del ciclo anual realizado en las costas de Andalucía a lo largo del año 2000. Destacan, entre las diatomeas céntricas, la subclase Coscinodiscophycidae con 27 taxones y la subclase Chaetocerotophycidae con 28. Entre las pennadas destaca la clase Bacillariophyceae con 76 s...

Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) are a key component of dryland ecosystems worldwide. However, large extensions of biocrusts are disturbed by human activities, gypsum quarry being an outstanding example. Restoration techniques applied have offered satisfactory results for vascular plants but they could greatly differ in promoting biocrust recover...

Hydraulic washout of lakes and reservoirs is recognized as a major regulating factor of both, phyto-and zooplankton populations. We have analysed the changes in the chlorophyll-a concentration in 21 high-mountain lakes from Sierra Nevada. Eleven lakes proved to have superficial diffuse inlets and outlets (open lakes) while the other 10 have no outl...

A new benthic freshwater diatom species belonging to the genus Pinnularia was found in Laguna Seca of Sierra Seca in the north of the province of Granada, Spain. Pinnularia baetica sp.nov. is proposed as a new species based on observations under light (LM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and its special ecology typical of a calcareous lagoon...

Chroothece has been reported from a range of freshwater environments, including streams, shallow ponds, trickling water on cliffs and moist soils, mostly in Europe and North America. The identification of genera and species morphologically is difficult because of overlaps in critical characters. To help clarify diversity within the genus, samples f...

Autotrophic picoplankton (APP) is responsible for the vast majority of primary production in oligotrophic marine areas, such as the Alboran Sea. The increase in atmospheric dust deposition (e.g. from Sahara Desert) associated with global warming, together with the high UV radiation (UVR) on these ecosystems may generate effects on APP hitherto unkn...

The construction of ponds for irrigation has proliferated during last decades in Mediterranean regions. If properly constructed and managed, ponds may simultaneously meet conservation and agricultural objectives: the preservation of certain macrophytes might improve water quality for irrigation purposes. However, the effects ofmanagement are often...

We review the diversity of freshwater organisms in the Mediterranean Basin (hereafter Med), particularly from streams and rivers. We present available information on the richness, endemicity, and distribution of each freshwater organism group within the Med, and make a comparison with Palearctic diversity. Approximately 35% of known Palearctic fres...

Spirogyra africana (Fritsch) Czurda is a ubiquitous filamentous green alga that grows naturally in Andalusian farm ponds. Research on this macroalga has reported several biotechnological applications, emphasizing its value for biofuel production. However, culture media for growth of this species have not yet been tested for long-term experiments an...

We compared morphometric and physico-chemical characteristics of farm ponds and natural wetlands in Andalusia (southern Spain) to determine whether artifi-cial waterbodies might act as alternative and/or complemen-tary habitats for aquatic biodiversity. Farm ponds were much smaller than natural wetlands, making them unsuit-able for species requirin...

In order to evaluate latitudinal differences in the relationship of phytoplankton biomass and diversity with environmental conditions in shallow lakes, we sampled 98 shallow lakes from three European regions: Denmark (DK), Belgium/The Netherlands (BNL) and southern Spain (SP). Phytoplankton biomass increased with total phosphorus (TP) concentration...

Laboratory experiments were performed to study the growth rate and phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) uptakes of eight benthic microalgae species isolated from different sources of pig manure. Cells immobilized in calcium alginate beads were cultured with three replicates for each species. P removal rates obtained for the unicellular self-aggregating...

A total of 16 543 artificial ponds were inventoried. Ninety-one per cent of the ponds were classified as for farming use. Generally, the fraction of farm land converted to pond structures was close to that predicted from the average annual precipitation in the region. However, in several areas, this fraction was remarkably higher than the value pre...

The effect of increased UV radiation on photosynthesis estimated as in vivo chlorophyll fluorescence i.e. optimal quantum yield (F v /F m) and electron transport rate (ETR) in the green filamentous alga Zygnemopsis decussata (Streptophyta, Zygnematales) growing in the high mountain lake "La Caldera" (Sierra Nevada, Spain) at 3050 m altitude was eva...

In samples collected between April 2004 and August 2006 from shallow lakes and reservoirs in southern Spain some noteworthy planktonic green algae of the family Botryococcaceae (Trebouxiophyceae, Chlorophyta) were found. A new species, Lobocystis inconspicua sp. nov., is described and taxonomic comments on some members of the family Botryococcaceae...

The epilithic diatom assemblages studied in the high mountain lake "La Caldera" (Granada, Spain) from 1996 to 1998 went through two clearly different stages. The initial one, in 1996, corresponded to the reflooding of the basin after a severe drought and was composed mainly of the colonising species Fragilaria rumpens, together with a lesser presen...

En el 2002, un grupo de investigadores pertenecientes a diversos centros de investigación y universidades, coordinados desde Barcelona, inician los contactos necesarios para presentar un proyecto en la línea iniciada por el Jardín Botánico de Madrid en el año 1980 con el arranque de la Flora iberica, y continuada con otras series que han conducido...

A new diatom taxon, Fragilaria nevadensis Linares-Cuesta &Sanchez-Castillo, was described based on light- and electron-microscope examination. It was isolated from a high-mountain lake in the Sierra Nevada (Granada, Spain), the highest mountain range in the Iberian Peninsula. The new taxon was characterised by its valve morphology and number of str...

Se aborda el estudio de las diatomeas epipélicas que se desarrollan en la mayoría de las lagunas de alta montaña del Parque Nacional de Sierra Nevada. El catálogo florístico de las diatomeas epipélicas de Sierra Nevada contiene un total de 63 táxones de 29 géneros distintos, entre los que destacan por su mayor abundancia Encyonema minutum (Hilse)D....

Shallow lakes and reservoirs are very common in Europe. They harbour a wide variety of organisms and are an important component of the landscape structure. In addition to their ecological role, they also support a wide array of socio-economic activities, such as fisheries, recreation, water storage (flood prevention) and water supply for agricultur...

The fountain of Bibatauín, in Granada (Spain), is in a poor state of conservation, and biodeterioration is occurring. Colonization by microalgae and its effects on the fountain were investigated. The microorganisms from representative sampling areas were identified by optical microscopy, and the biogenic carbonate crusts they formed analysed by X-r...

Growth and sexual reproduction in a population of Cyclotella ocellata Pantocseck were studied during one annual cycle in a reservoir and in short-term enclosure experiments performed in situ involving different nutrient conditions and concentrations of zooplankton species. Three phases of auxosporulation in this diatom were distinguishable morpholo...

Laboratory experiments were performed to study the growth rate and phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) uptake of two nanoplanktonic algal species, Scenedesmus intermedius Chod. and Nannochloris sp. that were isolated from different sources of pig manure. Experiments were carried out for immobilized and free cell cultures simultaneously, with three repl...

Anatoxin-a is a potent neurotoxin produced by some freshwater cyanobacteria which, because of its acute toxic effects, may represent a hazard to aquatic organisms, and even to human beings. Both the acute and chronic effects of this toxin are rather well known, but few studies provided information about its sublethal effect on the zooplankton respi...

The 1-year seasonal distribution of Ceratium hirundinella was studied in a southern Spanishreservoir. This species grew from June 1988 to April 1989 and showed the highest density in winter, coinciding with the lowest water temperature values and with the period of water circulation. These seasonal dynamics do not accord with the typical descriptio...

The dispersal and colonization of Korshikoviella gracilipes (Lambert) Silva on Daphnia pulicaria Forbes collected from a small high mountain lake in southern Spain were investigated in a series of laboratory experiments. Results of these laboratory experiments were related to previous field data. Massive release and detachment of zoospores, which i...

Ceratium hirundinella has traditionally been characterised as a species that thrives in warm waters and in stratified conditions. In our study, however, we found that the temporal occurrence of C. hirundinella in Spanish reservoirs greatly differs from that typically described in temperate zone aquatic systems. We analysed the temporal occurrence o...

We analyzed the changes in epilimnetic total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN), and soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) in 31 small high-mountain lakes in the Sierra Nevada (Spain) during an annual cycle, just after the spring thaw, and in the middle of the growing season. Chlorophyll a, TN, and TP increased, wh...

A modern diatom-pH calibration data-set consisting of surface-sediment diatom assemblages from 118 lakes and 530 taxa is presented. The AL:PE data-set is from high-altitude or high-latitude lakes in the Alps, Norway, Svalbard, Kola Peninsula, UK, Slovenia, Slovakia, Poland, Portugal, and Spain (pH range = 4.5-8.0; DOC range = 0.2-3.2 mg l-1). In ad...

We examined the response of the plankton community to strong changes in the volume of oligotrophic Lake La Caldera through the ice-free period of 1995-1997. As consequence of the changes in the precipitation regime, the lake volume diminished to 2 m depth during the extremely dry year of 1995. The increase in phosphorus availability for this year c...

These proceedings deal with the relationship between species composition of freshwater phytoplankton and the trophic gradient. Particular regard is paid to the composite question, what lives where and why? Overview papers report the state of the art and suggest that the trophic spectrum appears to be a probabilistic outcome of several dimensions of...

The most notable form of deterioration in the fountains of the Alhambra is mineralization, which can cover practically the entire surface of basins colonized by algae. We have studied two types of alterations related to the mineralization process in the Alhambra fountains. Accretion, which occurs as a result of precipitation and mineral aggregation...

Microalgal communities growing on monumental fountains of the Alhambra (Granada, Spain) were studied for 3 years. These epilithic communities develop to visible formations which have been divided into four different categories: pustules, films, mats and stromatolithic crusts. Pustules are colonial nuclei that show the initial phases of colonization...

A seasonal study on the chemical and physical parameters carried out at the point of maximun depth along the vertical profile in two lagoons from the Albufera of Adra (Almeria) has allowed us to characterize them as eutrophic, with basic waters well oxygenated which maintain high levels of alkalinity and mineralization. Their ionic proportions bein...

In the framework of the AL:PE 2 project, studies on acidification and organic pollution in mountain lakes have been conducted in several ranges in the Iberian peninsula: Pyrenees (Northeastern Spain), Sierra de Gredos (Central Spain), Sierra Nevada (Southern Spain) and Serra da Estrela (Central Portugal). These studies focused on water and sediment...

We examined the simultaneous dynamics of phytoplankton and zooplankton in an oligotrophic lake, as well as the algal response to experimental manipulations of herbivore population structure and density. The seasonal succession of phytoplankton is characterized by a shift in dominance from eukaryotic species to prokaryotic cyanobacteria, as in a eut...

A new variety of Amphora margalefii is described as: A. margalefii var. lacustris P. Snchez var. nov. It is identifiable by its narrow, elliptical frustule (18–27 6.5–10 m) with dorsal striae consisting of a double row of puncta. This taxon inhabits epipelic communities which develop in the litoral zone of several brackish water lakes in the provin...

Se estudia una población de Chaetoceros wighamii procedente de una laguna interior de la provincia de Málaga (España). Esta población destaca por sus células aisladas o formando pequeñas cadenas de 2 a 4 células y por sus esporas de resistencia, con la valva primaria convexa y espinosa y la secundaria cónica-truncada. Se discute la estructura de la...

This paper summarize, from a regional limnology point of view, some of the identifying characteristics of Sierra Nevada high mountain lakes, as a result of the studies carried out by the limnology group of the University of Granada since 1975. A overall narrow variability in the morphological, physical and chemical characteristics of this lakes see...

In this paper we present data about enlargement of the original description of Chromulina nevadensis. This study has been carried out on an oligotrophic high mountain lake (La Caldera) close to the lake where it was described (Aguas Verdes). Also we make some consideration about the mixotrophy, a nutritional behavior previously knew for other chrys...

Seven species of Euglenophyceae with lorica (2 Strombomonas and 5 Trachelomonas) haven been studied. We analyzed their lorica microarchitecture by means of ligh microscopy and scanning electron microscopy, enumerating their different ornamental elements. We stand out the study of three population of Trachelomonas, two of them are provisionally incl...

We study the benthic diatom flora of five ponds located in the provinces of Malaga and Granada. The majority of these ponds are permanent systems with neutral or slightly alkaline pH, with medium to high mineralization values and variable degrees of eutrophy. We have studied 115 taxa. The Pennate species are dominant in these communities. We have s...

During August, 1987, we performed a series of Limnocorral experiments in lake La Caldera, a small winter-kill lake in which phytoplankton is strikingly nutrient-limited. The effects of biomanipulation on zooplankton-phytoplankton relationships were assessed by monitoring both individual species and whole-assemblage responses. Two sizes of enclosure...

In this paper we describe the main features of the size-abundance distribution and taxonomic structure of plankton in an oligotrophic, high mountain lake (La Caldera, Sierra Nevada, Spain). The distribution is characterized by a discontinuity in the size range between ˜2000 and 32 000 μm3 (cell volume). Phytoplankton are numerically dominated by th...

Se estudia la composición específica del fitoplancton de 16 lagunas de alta montaNa de Sierra Nevada. Las lagunas estudiadas se encuentran situadas sobre sustrato silíceo y con una altitud comprendida entre los 2.500 y los 3.100 m. Presentan un período libre de hielo que oscila entre 5 y 6 meses, normalmente de juoio a octubre. De los 149 tacones c...

SEASONAL CHANGES OF THE PLANKTONIC COMMUNITIES IN THE ALBUFERA OF ADRA LAGOON This paper is a part of a major project for the ecologícal study of the Albufera of Adra (Almería,Spain), and shows data obtained on the structure and seasonal dynamics of phytoplankton and zooplankton communities from December 1984 to January 1986. Chlorophyceans and, in...

This paper is a chorology and ecology study about six taxa belonging to the genus Chara L. from Andalucía (Spain). Se estudia la distribución de seis táxones del género Chara L. en Andalucía, resaltando los caracteres morfológicos más destacables, así como 1a ecología observada en cada localidad.

Se hace un estudio ecológico y corológico de algunos hidrofitos, de los pisos inferior y montano, de la provincia de Granada, realizando un transecto de la vegetación de la turbera de El Padul, por considerarla como el ecosistema más representativo y mejor conservado de nuestras comunidades acuáticas. Se inicia el estudio ficológico de la provincia...

PHYCOLOGIC STUDY O F REOPHILIC VEGETATION FROM SIERRA NEVADA (G R A N A D A) Reophilic vegetation from Sierra Nevada (700-2.800 m. high) has been studied. According to its floristiccomposition ir has been possible to stablish tw« secuencia1 communities: Diiltomo-meridiotzetum riz,ulilre Marg. 1949, located in the upper zone and Ceriltonieto-hydrure...

RESUMEN. Diatomeas planctónicas del litoral de Andalucía (España).Se estudian un total de 206 taxones identificados durante el estudio del ciclo anual realizado en las costas de Andalucía a lo largo del año 2000. Destacan, entre las diatomeas céntricas, la subclase Coscinodiscophycidae con 27 taxones y la subclase Chaetocerotophycidae con 28. Entre...

SALINITY INFLUENCE ON ALGAL POPULATIONS FROM THREE COASTAL LAGOONS (Albuferas de Adra, Almería) The «Albuferas» from Adra (Almería, Spain) constitute a set of three sea-side lagoons with a parallel disposition to the coast line. In this paper we relate their chloride concentrations to the phytoplankton taxonomic composition. From the data obtained...