Composition, Occurrences and Checklist of Periphyton Algae of Some Water Bodies Around Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria

Abstract

This paper presents an investigation of the periphyton algae of five rivers around Benin City. The rivers studied were River Okhuaihe (station 1), River Ikpoba (station II), River Ossiomo, Ologbo station (station III), River Siluko (station IV) and River Ogba (station V). Samples were collected monthly for periphyton and physico-chemical analysis. Periphyton samples were collected by scraping the roots, leaves and stems of aquatic macrophytes, dead and felled logs submerged on the banks of the rivers as well as from rocks embedded in the substratum while water samples for physical and chemical parameters were collected directly into clear plastic containers.
The rivers were acidic with a pH range of 5.10-6.31 and very low in nutrients. A total of 87 taxa of periphyton algae were identified and categorized into 4 divisions, 11 orders, 9 families and 44 genera. The distribution among the division was Chlorophyta 64.37%, Bacillariophyta 22.99%, Cyanophyta 5.75% and Euglenophyta 6.89%. The majority of the green periphyton algae were desmids.

Key words: Periphyton, rivers, physico-chemical, taxa.