Phytoplankton Species Identification in Sukol River Bongabong, Oriental Mindoro

Phytoplankton balances the flow of food as the primary top resource for many aquatic organisms. Sukol River is one of the major water resources in the Municipality of Bongabong in Oriental Mindoro that supplies various human activities such as the source of agricultural irrigation, energy production, fishing, etc. This study focused on the phytoplankton diversity abundance at selected sites of Sukol River, specifically in the river mouth namely Brgy. Poblacion, (Site 1) Brgy. Sagana, (Site 2) and Brgy Ipil (Site 3). A total of 3 taxa belonging to Chlorophyta (5), Bacillariophyta (10), and Cyanophyta (1) were identified. The highest taxa occurred in Site 1 with a diversity index value of 1.96, followed by Site 2 (1.71) and Site 3 (1.69), hence relative value still indicates not accounted for high indication of the diversity and not considered as diverse in terms of species found in the area. Likewise in terms of relative abundance, the highest taxa occurred in Site 2 with a diversity index value of 0.82, followed by Site 1 (0.80) and Site 3 (0.77). On the contrary, the highest average cell density was Site 1 (99.2 x 106), Site 3 (69.6 x 106), and Site 2 (65.8 x 106), implying that each site has high uniformity in terms of species and cell density. Remarkably, Navicula sp. is present only in Site 1 and Gyrosigma sp. in Site 3. Results also showed that phytoplankton was greatly affected by flow rate as the movement of water ranges from 31.31 m/s (Site 2). 26.85 m/s (Site 1) and 25.75 m/s (Site 3).