Hydrobiological communities of Veselovskoye water reservoir (the Manych river) in October 2016: the results of studies

The Veselovskoe reservoir is among the most productive reservoirs of the Manych Cascade. Sharp changes in the hydrological and hydrochemical conditions of aquatic animals' habitat have been typical for the reservoir since its formation. During the intensive succession processes taking place in the reservoir, a restructuring of the plankton and benthos communities was observed accompanied by significant fluctuations in their quantitative indicators. In 2016, there were conducted complex hydrological and biological studies of the reservoir in order to assess the structure of phytoplankton, zooplankton and zoobenthos at the present stage. The western part of the reservoir as the most productive was studied in the autumn by applying standard techniques. According to the data obtained, the phytoplankton abundance averaged 198.1 mln cells/m3, and their biomass constituted 149.1 mg/m3 in the region under discussion, with diatoms and cryptophytes dominating in the phytoplankton community...