Studying of Physico-chemical and Biological characters of Qarun Lake, El-Fayoum – Egypt

Lake
Qarun is an inland lake occupies the lowest part of El- Fayoum depression. The
sampling program during the studied period was carried out on monthly basis
from May 2015 and continued till April 2016 (12 successive months).
Physico-chemical analysis of Qarun Lake revealed that pH values recorded were
on the alkaline side, values of Secchi disc indicated that the water of the
lake concerned as a turbid water bodies. The alkalinity in Qarun Lake is
characterized by increasing of bicarbonate values as compared with carbonate
one. Nutrients analysis indicated increasing of ammonium, nitrate, nitrite,
phosphate, silicate in the water of the lake especially in front of the drains.
On the other hand a total of 89 species of phytoplankton belonging to six
classes were recorded in the lake. The recorded classes were Bacillariophyceae,
Cyanophyceae, Chlorophyceae, Euglenophyceae, Dinophyceae and Cryptophyceae,.The
Bacillariophyceae were most diverse with 39 species, then Cyanophyceae with 18
species, Chlorophyceae and Euglenophyceae with 10 species for both, Dinophyceae
with 9 species and Cryptophyceae with 3 species. Our study concluded that the
increased nutrient level in the lake by time show an exacerbated problem of
eutrophication which lead to economic effect on fish production