ALGAL FLORA OF CRVENE BARE PEAT BOG (MT. KOPAONIK, SERBIA)

Abstract

The main purpose of the study was to record the floristic characteristics of the algae assemblages of the peat bog Crvene Bare, Mt. Kopaonik, Serbia. Peat bog Crvene Bare is situated on Mt. Kopaonik, Serbia at an altitude of 1645 m.a.s.l. (43˚17'47"N, 20˚48'37"E), developed on a water-saturated surface of about 2.5 ha, surrounded by spruce forests. It is protected by the national legislation (II protection regime). There are no literature data about the morphology, distribution and ecology of algae from the peat bog Crvene Bare. The algological samples were collected in July 2022. Samples of phytobenthos were collected with a pipette from the surface of the bottom deposits. Epiphytic samples were collected by squeezing out or scraping off dominant mosses. All samples were fixed with formaldehyde to a final concentration of about 4% shortly after sampling. Light microscope observations and micrographs were made using a Zeiss AxioImagerM.1 microscope with DIC optics andAxioVision 4.9 software. On the basis of relevant literature, algae from 7 phylums (Cyanobacteria, Rhodophyta, Chlorophyta, Charophyta, Euglenozoa, Miozoa, Heterokontophyta) were identified. The most diverse and most common were diatoms, desmids and cyanobacteria.