Background:

Periphytic microalgae are commonly used as indicators of environmental stress.

Objectives:

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the characteristics of phycoperiphyton and water’s physical, chemical, and bacteriological conditions in various aquatic systems of the Zapatosa Swamp Complex (ZSC).

Methods:

The research evaluated the functional morphology of these algae (such as maximum linear dimension, surface area, surface-volume ratio, and biovolume) as well as life form traits (including colony formation, filament organization, presence of silica exoskeleton, occurrence of aerotopes, mucilage production, and possession of flagella) and their correlation with different environmental variables (e.g., dissolved oxygen, temperature, pH, conductivity, nutrients, ions, oxygen demands, organic carbon, dissolved and suspended solids, fecal and total coliforms).

Results:

The study found that the functional traits did not exhibit significant spatial differences within the ZSC, and they were not conclusively related to variations in physicochemical variables, except for a moderate positive association of biovolume and surface area with total coliforms, and a negative association of mucilage and colony formation with total hardness.

Conclusions:

The pollution and deterioration conditions of the different sites in the ZSC were similar, which did not allow for the clear detection of responses of the functional traits to changes in water quality. Nevertheless, the characterization of the functional morphology and biological traits of the ZSC phycoperiphyton provides an initial understanding of the functional ecology of this group, offering insights that can help assess potential future modifications due to human interventions, as well as climatic and environmental changes.