Rare and new records of diatoms in Turkey from Kütahya flowing waters

Abstract

Diatoms are one of the key organisms used in biomonitoring studies and they occur in a wide variety of environments, exhibiting a broad range of tolerance to abiotic factors. Historically, the first freshwater diatom study in Turkey was conducted in 1844 by Ehrenberg based on the material collected from the Murat and Aras Rivers. Situated between large continents (Eurasia and Africa), Turkey comprises areas of very diverse geological, climatic and environmental conditions, so we should expect that organisms such as diatoms show high diversity in this region. The aim of this study is to present new sites of rare and new records in Turkey from different genera along with morphological and ecological characteristics. As a result, a total of 73 species (24 rare and 49 new records) are presented in this study.