Özet:
The Ceyhan River basin consists of a large number of rivers, lakes and dams and since the basin area
is important for agricultural and industrial activities, it receives an extensive discharge of pollutants.
There is a possibility that toxic (e.g. some cyanobacteria) and pathogenic, such as Salmonella species,
bacteria present in the bacterial community. Therefore these bacteria could be responsible for water
quality and the health diseases of the aquatic organisms. In this study the epiphytic bacterial densities on different submersed species, collected from Ceyhan River Basin, in different seasons have
been compared. The impacts of physico-chemical variables of the surrounding water on epiphytic
bacteria population has also been tested. Average densities of bacteria on the leaves of all tested
plants were higher in autumn and lower in spring. In all seasons, the density of bacteria on the leaves
of Myriophyllum spicatum was higher than that of the other two species, Ceratophyllum demersum and
Groenlandia densa. Bacterial density on the leaves of all tested plants significantly differed between
the season. Epiphytic bacterial density correlated significantly with pH, conductivity and NO3
–
. On
the other hand, epiphytic bacterial density was strongly correlated with temperature, TN, NH4
+, TP,
SRP and Chl a, while no significant correlation could be determined between bacterial population
and DO.