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Diatoms of Dindifelou fall (upper Basin of the Gambia River, Senegal): floristic inventory
Author(s) -
Sow El Hadji,
Fofana Cheikh A. K.,
Aw Cheikh
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
african journal of ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.499
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1365-2028
pISSN - 0141-6707
DOI - 10.1111/aje.12127
Subject(s) - tributary , ecology , geography , habitat , biology , cartography
The Dindifelou fall, located in south‐eastern Senegal, receives its water from discharging springs located in Dande plate‐land. These waters form, at the foot of the cliff, a pond that drains into the Thiokoye, a tributary of the Gambia River. The water quality of the pond and the stream is very good based on physicochemical analyses. Around the pond region, a microclimate characterized by a higher humidity and a lower temperature compared with the surrounding area is present. Diatoms study is carried out in different habitat types associated with this fall. The samples were taken by scraping the surface of rocks and rinsing fern leaves with sparkling water. Dande plate‐land is made of Upper Proterozoic sandstones whose gravity accumulations litter the bottom of the pond and the stream. This study allowed us to inventory 61 species and varieties of diatoms belonging to 28 genera. The most represented genera are A chnanthidium (ten species), E unotia and P innularia (eight species each). Twelve species and varieties are reported for the first time in Senegambia including five of the genera A chnanthidium . The microflora is dominated by A chnantidium minutissimum and A chnanthidium catenatum , followed by U lnaria ulna and various species of the genera Eunotia and Brachysira . Aerial habitats are more diversified here than the epilithic samples.