Cyanobacterial Diversity in the Alkaline Lake Khilganta during the Dry and Wet Periods

Clone libraries and morphological analysis were used to investigate cyanobacterial diversity in the cyanobacterial mat and dry crust at the bottom of the shallow, saline, alkaline Lake Khilganta (Southern Siberia, Russia). Filamentous cyanobacteria belonging to Phormidium genus and Coleofasciculus chthonoplastes were found to predominate during the dry period (2006) and the wet periods (1995 and 2012), respectively. Community composition during the dry and wet periods differed significantly. While 11 operational taxonomic units of cyanobacteria were revealed, only 3 occurred during both dry and wet periods. Occurrence of cosmopolitan C. chthonoplastes, which is common in neutral saline environments, is not typical of a continental alkaline lake and may be explained by the similarity of the dominant ions composition in lake water and in seawater.