Analysis of phytoplankton in the reservoirs of Guajataca, Cerrillos and La Plata in Puerto Rico

An important role to determinate the type of contamination of a reservoir is by knowing the species of phytoplankton; they are the first producers of trophic chain in these systems. The purpose of this investigation is the study of these microorganisms in three of the reservoirs in Puerto Rico: Cerrillos, Guajataca and La Plata. Our quest is based on a relation between these phytoplankton species that live in them with their trophic states in different dates. If we considered the antiqueness and their trophic states, reported in other studies, the order of abundance of phytoplankton species (S), in these reservoirs, are Guajataca, then, La Plata and Cerrillos. We made a duplicated sample of water of each reservoir, using a Bongo net that collected the product of these, for five minutes at 27 mph. The volume of the final filtered product (1L of water in each sample) was preserved in formalin at 5%. By the preliminary analysis, the reservoir with more number of species was Guajataca, dominated by green algae (Chlorophyceae); then La Plata, which the diatoms (Bacillariophyceae) and dinoflagellates (Pyrrophyta) are found in abundance ; and the last one, Cerrillos, which is also dominated by diatoms and dinoflagellates. With the preliminary data, we observed a proportional relation between the reservoir’s antiqueness and the number of species found.