Las Chlorococcales dulciacuícolas de Cuba

The freshwater algal flora of Cuba is practically unknown. This book is the first floristic and taxonomic work on the interesting group, Chlorococcales. It is based primarily on a study of various freshwater biotopes in Cuba, mainly in the western provinces of the country, including the Isle of Pines. It provides keys to identify the taxa treated in this review, as well as short botanical descriptions with the principal morphological features, emphasizing those used to characterize each taxon. Information on ecology and distribution is also presented together with illustrations, the majority of which are original. Additional taxonomic comments are included about the peculiarities of the Cuban populations. The book also includes special sections on the biology, systematics, and taxonomy of the Chlorococcales, the characterization of the main aquatic biotopes of Cuba. In the section on geographic distribution, the floristic relationships between the Cuban algal flora and those in other geographic zones are examined, based on the results of KOMÁREK & COMAS (1984) as well as more recent data. According to the information presented, 60% of the Cuban freshwater taxa of Chlorococcales can be regarded as cosmopolitan. This group includes taxa morphologically identical with those in other geographical areas, accounting for 47% of the total, and others conspecific with the widely distributed forms but with some distinct morphological features in the Cuban populations, constituting 13% of the total. In addition, 20% are pantropical taxa, including 4% of the total, which are species known only from tropical America, and another 4% that are most frequently encountered in the warmer parts of the world. Finally, 20% of the taxa are still known only from Cuba. In all, the book includes 211 taxa of Chlorococcales that inhabit Cuban freshwaters, mainly standing eutrophic water bodies. The best represented family is Scenedesmaceae, and the greatest number of its species belong to the genus Scenedesmus MEYEN. The species most widely distributed and abundant, however, are Monoraphidium contortum (THUR.) KOM-LEGN., Coelastrum indicum TURN., and Pediastrum tetras (EHRENB.) RALFS.