Biodiversita' algale in Sicilia: diatomee rare o notevoli del bacino idrografico del fiume Simeto

Biogeographia vol. )OO( ~ 2011 (Pubblicato il 23 dicembre 2011) La Biogeografia della Sicilia Biodiversita algale in Sicilia: diatomee rare 0 notevoli del bacino idrografico del fiume Simeto MARTA FINOCCHIARO*, MARIACRISTINA TORRISI**, ANNALISA FERLITO*, ANTONIO DELL’UOMO**, LUC ECTOR*** *A.R.1?A. Sicilia, Dipartimento Provineiale a’i Catania, 2/ia C. Artlizzone 35, 95100 Catania (Italy); e—mail: mfinoecbiaro @arpa.sicilia. it ** Dipartimento di Scienze/1ml7ientali, Sezione di Botarzica ea’ Ecologia, Universita di Camerirzo, via Pontorzi 5, 62032 Camerino (M C) (Italy); e—mail: mariacristina. torrisi@imicam. it; antonio. delluomo @urzicam. it *”qq Public Research Centre — Gabriel Lippmann, Department of Environment antlAgro—biotec/Jrzologies, 4], rue du Brill, D4422 Belvaux (Grand-Ducky of Luxemlyourg); e-mail: eet0r@lz;z2_pmann.lu Key words: algal biodiversity, diatoms, halophilous taxa, Simeto river, Sicily. SUMMARY The diatom community of the hydrographic basin of the Simeto river was studied for the first time during the years 2005-2007. In the course of this investigation 185 taxa of diatoms were observed, many of them common throughout the Italian territory, others rarely reported or very interesting from the ecological and biogeographical point of view. Among these, Caloneis aff. p:eua'oclez/ei Cholnoky deserves particular attention because it resulted to be one of the rare records in Europe. This taxon was recorded and described for the first time in South Africa, in alkaline and rather degraded water bodies. Numerous and abundant are the halophilous species, their presence is justified by the high mineralization of the water of the Simeto river, which does not seem due to anthropogenic causes, but to natural causes, mainly to the lithology of the substrate. The information obtained by this research re- sulted to be useful to widen the knowledge of the ecology of diatoms observed in Italian watercourses. INTRODUZIONE Nel corso di ricerche svolte nel bacino idrografico del fiurne Simeto allo sco- po di valutarne la qualita biologica tramite indicatori algali sono state osserVa— te numerose specie di diatomee particolarmente interessanti dal punto di Vista ecologico e biogeografico. La Direttiva quadro europea \WFD/ 60/2000 (Coun- cil of the European Union, 2000) in1poneinfattil’utilizzo degli indicatori bio— logici appartenenti ai vari livelli trofici in aggiunta alla valutazione della com-