Phytoplankton Community Structure in Highly-Mineralized Small Gypsum Karst Lake (Russia).

Gypsum karst lakes are unique water ecosystems characterized by specific habitat conditions for living organisms, including phytoplankton species, as primary producers and mediating biogeochemical cycles in the water bodies. Studies of diversity and structure of phytoplankton communities can be used to identify the specific and typical lake features and plan basin-wide monitoring. The aim of this research was to analyze the structural variables of algocenoses in the small gypsum karstic Lake Klyuchik (Middle Volga basin), atypical for the subzone of mixed coniferous and deciduous forest zone high values of water mineralization (brackish water) and low temperatures.