Recent changes in the phytoplankton community of Soda Lake Chitu, Ethiopia, in response to some environmental factors

While scientific information on the spatial variation of soda lake Microalgae is important to limnological studies, little information was reported from the Ethiopian Rift Valley Lake, Lake Chitu. This study aimed to understand the spatial distribution of the dominant Microalgae taxa in Lake Chitu, Ethiopia. The collection of samples and in situ measurements of some physico-chemical parameters were recorded at three sites for one cycle in November 2021. Fourteen species or genera of Microalgae were identified. Among those, Bacillariophyta were the most important with regard to species abundance and the rarest in species richness. Cyanophyta were the second-most important group in terms of species richness and rarity. Comparatively, all microalgae taxa were rare at both the anthropogenic areas (AA) and the flooding area (FA), which could be mainly due to intensive human and animal intervention and associated with extreme turbidity. Among Cyanophyta, Chroococcus minutus, Microcystis aeruginosa, and Spirulina platensis/fusiformis were predominant at both AA and FA, revealing their adaptation to less clear water and pollution. But S. platensis/fusiformis attained the highest abundance at the FA, indicating their preference for water in a highly nutrient-enriched area. We concluded that the spatial variation of microalgae diversity in relation to water quality parameters has implications for the importance of microalgae as a baseline indicator of water quality assessment tools in lakes.