IBN AL- HAITHAM J. FOR PURE & APPL. S CI. VOL.23 (1) 2010 A qualitative Study on Algae in Abdullah Abu-Nadjem Oasis, Al-Dewanyah,Iraq R. K. Abed Alas ady Departme nt of Biology,College of Education, Unive rsity of Al-Qadissiya Abstract The p resent study was conducted on sp ring-fed(Abdullah Abu-Nadjem Oasis)west of Al- Dewany ah p rovince,Iraq. ,during Winter 2007. The results indicate that water quality was neutral tend to be slightly alkaline p H was 7.7 and 7.4 for st ation(1)and st ation (2) resp ectively. Total hardness value of water about 1520 and 1488 mg/l.for two st ations resp ectively ,This high valu es of hardness may be due to Calciu m ions 397.5 and 395.5mg/l.for two stations. According to Salinity values (1.58 - 2.22) ‰(ppt) ,water of oasis may be classified as brackish water, the oasis water was well aerated dissolved oxy gen was 5.3 and 7.4 mg/l. On the other hand about (58) algal taxa wer e record ed in this st udy Diatoms(Bacillariophy ceae)were the dominant microalgae (58.6%),followed by blue greens(Cy anophy ceae)(20.6%),While the Chlorop hy ceae and Charop hy ceae were the lower in occurrence .The dominant of Diatoms was recorded in most of Iraqi inland water bodies., Introduction Oasis and Sp rings represent geographically isolated ecosy st ems and they have p otential to contain both relict sp ecies (once widesp read sp ecies that are now more limited in distribution ) or endemic sp ecies (those whose distribution is limited to the habitat in which they evolved )[ 1].M ost of the neighboring sp rings p rovide uniform conditions and similar ecosy st ems [2]. M any p apers focused on sp rings in north America reveal that many sp ecies of algae seemed to be endemic sp ecies in these sp rings and st reams which derived from these sp rings e.g Hyalella sp p . Batracospermum carponivolucrum and the diatoms Gomphonema montezumense ,Calonies sp p . and Cyclotella pseudostelligera [3].Recently many scientific invest igations deal with the distribution of algal flora in Iraq. [ 4 ].Al M ost of these st udies focused on rivers like Tigris ,Euphrates and Shatt al-Arab or lakes[5,6] ,Dams and reservoirs [7].In addition to some invest igations carried out in Kurdist an which related with algal flora of waterfalls ,cold and hot sp rings [8].In t he middle and southern of Iraq, most of the st udies concentrated on rivers and marshes, but not sp rings or oasises excep t a unique st udy of Al- M usawii[9] on Shthatha (Ain Al-Tamer)which recorded 47 algal taxa .the p resent study came to follow this st eps to invest igate water quality and algal comp osition of Abdullah Abu Nadjem oasis at Ad-Dewaniy ah province. S tudy area :- Abdullah Abu Nadjem oasis situated in the western desert of Al-Dewaniyah p rovince toward Al-Shinafiya shire which called Alkhasif district about 20 km. from Al- Shinaffiya (31° 35 ′ 33.50″N; 44° 33′26.57″ E),near the holy shrine of M r.Abdullah ibn Alhassan of Al imam Ali bin Abi Talib(peace up on him)figure (1).,thus it is called Abdullah Abu Nadjem oasis .It comp osed of two sp rings p ouring forth water in continuous abundance, these sp rings overflow to make water body(lake)up to 200m long ,this lake is sandy and silty bottom. Materials and Methods Two stations for study were selected ,the first was at sp ring _fed ,while the other about 800-1000 meters from the first site .Water samples were collected in 5 ltr. Poly ethy lene IBN AL- HAITHAM J. FOR PURE & APPL. S CI. VOL.23 (1) 2010 containers for p hy sico-chemical tests ,while p hy top lankton were collected by 22mm mesh p hytop lankton net ,collected samp les were p reserved by adding logul , s solution .Non diatomic algae wer e studied by p reparing temp orary films which were examined under h igh p ower X40 using comp ound M icroscop e (Kruss) and haemocy tometer slide chamber [10].For demonst rating the frust ules of diatoms ,the net samples treated with (30%) H2O2 for 24 hrs followed by several rinses in D.W then diatoms were mounted on cover slips by using Canada-balsam [2].Phy top lankton were identified depending on [11,12,13,14]. Physi coche mical properties :Water temp erature was measured by 0.1mm mercuric thermometer [15].p H was measured by using p ortable pH meter (HANNA)after buffering by using st andard buff er solutions ,electrical conductivity was measured by E.C meter (µs/cm) .Dissolved Oxy gen was obtained according to Az ide modification of Winkler method(mg/l)[15].Salinity (‰)was calculated by the equation of M ackereth et.al.(1978).Total hardness was measured by titration the water samples Vs EDTA(0.01N) and using Erchrome black T as indicator [16].Calcium ions concentration was measured by using the methods of [15] ,while M agnesium ions concentration. was obtained by using the equation as below[15]. M g+2 p er liter =12.16 *[mEq hardness p er liter – m Eq Ca+2 per liter] mEq hardness p er liter = mg h ardness p er liter *0.01998 mEq Ca+2 per liter =mg Ca+2 per liter *0.0499 Results and Discussion Water temperature was ranged between 19.9_21.1°C at st ation (1) and (2) resp ectively .p H was 7.7 for both st ations ,t his result agrees with many p revious studies in the tend of Iraq inland water bodies to be slightly alkaline[4,5,6,7] . Electrical conductivity was ranged between 2968 and 3550 µs/cm for S(1) and S(2) resp ectively ,These values of conductivity reflected on Salinity which ranged between 1.58 and 2.22 ‰(p p t) .Both of the studied st ations had well dissolved oxy gen content which was over than (5 )mg/l. (5.3and 7.4) mg/l for two st ations .Water quality tend to be very hard according to total hardness values 1250 and 1488 mg/l This hardness due to high concentration of Ca +2 (379.5 and 395.5)mg/l while M g +2 ion concentration ranged between( 121.and 128.09) mg/l for St.(1) and St. (2) resp ectively .These results also agreed with many st udies about the dominant of Calcium ions on M agnesium in Iraqi Waters [4,5,6,7]. Algal flora : A total of 59 taxa of p hy top lankton were identified (table ).Bacillariophy ceae was the dominant group (58.6 %) followed by Cy anophy ceae (20.6 %) ,Chlorophy ceae (17.4 %) and Charophy ceae (3.4 %) figure(2) .The st ation (1) was more abundant in p hy top lankton than st ation (2).On the other hand, submerged algae Chara elegans was dominant in St.(1) other than St.(2)another filamentous algae were found as algal mat on the surface of water ,this mat was composed from Cldophora sp p .and Sp irogy ra sp p . in addition to filamentous blue green algae .In the p resent st udy some of most rarely identified algae in Iraqi inland water bodies were recorded like(Terpsinoe musica and Plagiotropies lipedoptera )[4] p late (1). In addition to cyanophy cean Gomphospheria aponina which were considered as halop hy tic alga .[8,19].In comp arison with other local st udies, the present st udy records about (57) algal taxa which was higher than Al-M usawi[9] who were recorded (47) taxa in Ain alTamer Oasis .Some of recorded algae consider as halop hy te or brackish water algae e.g T. musica and G.aponina [17].From the mentioned results, we can conclude that water quality of Abdullah abuNadjem oasis is classified as hard well aerated brakish water according to international criteria [15] . IBN AL- HAITHAM J. FOR PURE & APPL. S CI. VOL.23 (1) 2010 Re ferences 1- Hy nes,H.B.N.(1970).The Ecology of Running Waters.Liverpool University p ress, Liverpool:555p p 2- Sherwood,A.R. and Sh eath ,R.G. (1999).Seasona lity of macroalgae and epilithic diatoms in sp ring-fed streams in Texas,USA.Hy drbiologia .390-82. 3-Vis,M .L.and R.G.Sheath (1996).Distribution and sy stematic of Batrachosp ermum (Batrachosp ermales:Rhodophyta)in Nort h America.9.section Batrachosp ermum:d escrip tion of five new sp ecies .p hy cologia 35:433-442. 4- M aulood,B.K;R.A.M .Hadi;H.A.A.Saadalla;T.I.Kassim and A.A.Al- Lami.(1993).Ch ecklist of algae in Iraq.M arina M esop otamica,Sup p le.1:1-128. 5- Al-Handal,A.Y.(1989).Occurr ence of some f ilamentous Algae in the river Sh att al- Arab,Iraq.M arina M esop otamia J.M ar.Sci.4 (1):67-81. 6- AL Lami , A. A.;Kassim,T.I. and Al Dy lay mi,A.A. (1999) . A limnolo gical st udy on Tigris and Eup hrates rivers Iraq..Sci.J.of Atomic Energy Commission .1:83-98. 7- Kassim,T.I.;Al-Saadi,H.A.,and R,K.Farhan(1999).Sp atial and Seasonal variations of p hytop lankton in Qadisia Lak e,Iraq. The Scientific Jour.of Iraqi At omic Ener gy Commission .1:99-110. 8- Hinton, G.C.F and B.K. M aulood (1979).Freshwater Diatoms from Sulaimaniyah, Iraq.NOVA HEDWIGIA .BAND XXXI,1+2. 9-Al-M ousawi,A.H.A.(1994).Algological invest igation in Sh athatha Oasis(Ain AlTamer).Iraq.Basrah Jour. Of Science. 12 (1):1-8. 10- M artinez , M . R ; Chakicss , R . P . and Panta stico , J . B . ( 1975 ) . Note on direct p hytop lankton counting technique usin g Haemocy tometer Phil : Agric . 59 : 1 – 12. 11- Germain , H . ( 1981 ) . Flora des Diatome.es . Diatomp hy cees eall douces et saumatres du M assif Armoricion et des contrees voisines de Europe occidentale . Societe Nouvelle des Edition Boubee , Paris . 12-M orales,E.A.(2001).Fifth NAWQA Taxonomy Workshop on Harmonization of Algal Taxonomy. Patric Center for Environmental R easerch.report No.02-09.June. 13-Desikachary T.V,(1959).Cy anop hy ta.New Delhi ,London Acad.Press,686 pp . 14- Prescott , G . W ( 1973 ) . Algea of the Western Great lakes Area , William C . Brown , Dubuque lawa. 15- APHA, American Public Health Association (1999) st andard methods for the examin ation of water and wast e water. 20 th .ed.NewYork. 16- Lind,O.T .(1979).Handbook of Common methods in Limnolo gy .C.V.M osby Co.,St.louis .199pp . 17- El-Awamri,A.A.;Shaaban,A.M .;and Amal ,I. Saleh(2007).Floristic st udy on Benthic Diatoms of the ground water seepages at Kobri ElKobba .Cairo,(Egy pt).Jour. of App l .Science R easerch 3 (12) :1809-1818 Table(1): S ome Physico-che mical factors in Abdul lah Abu Nadjem oasi s S 1= St at ion 1 S2=St at ion 2. S2 S1 Factor 21.1 19.9 Water Temp erature C° 74 .7 7.7 p H 3550 2968 Electrical Conductivity (µs/cm ) 2.22 1.58 )‰Salinity ( 7.4 5.3 Dissolved oxy gen (mg/l) 1488 1520 Total Hardness 395.5 397.5 Calciu m (mg/l) 128.09 121.5 M agnesium(mg/l) IBN AL- HAITHAM J. FOR PURE & APPL. S CI. VOL.23 (1) 2010 Table(2):Algal taxa in study stati ons of Abdul lah Abu Nadjem oasi s durig study period(Winte r 2007). (+):mean the presence of S pecies List of Taxa الموقع (1) (2) Cyanophyceae Anabaena flos-aquae + Gomphospheria aponina + + Lyngbya spp + Merismopedia glauca + M. elegans + Microcystis aeruginosa (Kuetz.) + + OScillatoria curviceps + Osc. amoena + Osc. bornetii + Osc .tenuis + Oscillatoria sp. + Spirulina major + Bacillarophycea ( Diatomop hy ceae ) Order : Centrales Aulacosiera granulata + Cyclotella mingh iniana + + C. ocella ta + Terpsinoe muscia ( Ehrenb)* + + Order Pennales Achnanthes af finis + Ach. Longipes + Amphiprora alata + Bacillaria paxillifer + + Calonies permagna + + Campylodiscus clyp eus + C.noricus var. hibernica + Cocconies pla cemtnla + Cymbella parva + C. Gracillis . + + Fragilaria virscens + + Gomphonema angustatum + + G. constrictum + Gyrosigma acuminatum + + G. Spencerii + Mastogloia smithii + M. ellip tica + + Navicula cuspidate + N. gregaia + * Rarely record algae in Iraqi wat er bodies ** It s properly first record in Iraq according to last checklist (Mauloo d et.al,1993). . N. placentu la + N. pseudohalophila + Nitzschia palaea + N. pusilla + + N. fascicula ta + N. obitusa + N. vermicularis + + Pinnularia divergen + + Rhopalria parallela + Synedra ulna + plagiotropies l epidptera* + + Chlorophyceae Cladophora spp + + Closterium spp + Mougeotia sp p . + Oedogonium spp + + Pandorina morum + Spirogyra aequinoctialis + S. fulleborne i + S. gratiana + Spirogyra spp . + + Trochiscia reticu laris + Charophyceae chara elegans + Coleochaete con chata** + + IBN AL- HAITHAM J. FOR PURE & APPL. S CI. VOL.23 (1) 2010 \\ Fig.(1):-study area on Abdul lah abu Nadjem Oasis near Al-S hinafiyah shire scale 1:35000000 Scale 1:100 IBN AL- HAITHAM J. FOR PURE & APPL. S CI. VOL.23 (1) 2010 a-2 a-1 b-1 b-2 c-1 c-2 d-1 d-2 plate(1) :S ome of recorded algae in Abdul lah oasis (a1,2: Terpsinoe muscia ( Ehrenb)val ve view,(b1,2) lateral view .(c1,2): Coleochaete conchata(Charophy ceae).(d1,2): Gomphospheria aponi na (Cyanophyceae ). 2010) 1( 23مجلة ابن الھیثم للعلوم الصرفة والتطبیقیة المجلد العراق/الدیوانیة /واحة عبد اهللا أبو نجم نوعیة للطحالب في دراسة رائد كاظم عبد األسدي جامعة القادسیة،كلیة التربیة،قسم علوم الحیاة الخالصة ء .الواقعة غرب مدینة الدیوانیة ،العراق )واحةعبد اهللا أبونجم (العیون المائیةالدراسة الحالیة على أجریت في شتا على ) 2و 1(المحطتین pH (7.7 ,7.4 )میل طفیف للقاعدیة يمتعادلة ذ المیاه كانت نأ الى أشارت النتائج. 2007 395.5و 397.5الى غلبة أیونات الكالسیوم العسرة قد تعزى و لتر /ملغم 1488و 1520التوالي وأن المیاه عسرة جدًا ت محتوى أوكسیجیني كاف طبقا ووأنها ذ) خزء باأللف(‰ 2.22و 1.58أن المیاه مویلحة تكما بین.لتر /ملغم للمواصفا ت ) 58(كما سجل في الدراسة الحالیة مامجموعه .الدولیة مرتبة تصنیفیة من الطحالب ،كانت السیادة فیها للدایتوما ر %)20.6(تلتها الطحالب الخضر المزرقة %) 58.6(شكلت مانسبته اذ ) حالب العصویةالط( ،بینما كانت الطحالب الخض أن غلبة الدایتومات على بقیة المجامیع یؤكد ماجاء في العدید من الدراسات على .والكاریة هي األقل تواجدًا في هذه المیاه . المسطحات المائیة العراقیة