Diversity of Thermophilic Cyanobacteria in Maragheh Mineral Springs and Variable Environmental Factors

Cyanobacteria or Blue-Green algae are photosynthetic prokaryotic organisms found in most ecological habitats. Different species of cyanobacteria are found in the hot springs. Hot springs are great examples of extreme habitats for organisms with ‘sub cosmopolitan’ geographical distribution, species happen throughout the world but only in ‘appropriate’ habitats. In thousand year ago, these ecological areas have been noticing tourism and therapeutic and organisms in them have attracted biologists. In this study, the identification of cyanobacteria was studied in five springs of Sarisou, Goshayesh, Ghareh Palchiq, Shour Sou and Isty Bulakh located in East Azarbaijan province, Maragheh city. The physicochemical analysis of springs water was carried out due to their effect on algal communities. In order to minimize the quantitative and qualitative changes of phytoplankton after sampling, the samples were fixed in formaldehyde % 4 solution. As a result of this study, a total of 30 species were identified. The highest diversity of cyanobacteria was observed in the Isty Bulakh spring with 15 species and seven genera due to lower turbidity and total hardness compared to other springs. In contrast, Ghare Palchigh spring show the least diversity of cyanobacteria due to high total hardness and turbidity. Among the taxa identified from all stations, the genus Phormidium showed the highest diversity.