ABSTRACT
Herbaceous wetlands of northern Belize are part of a group of phytogeographically related marshes that cover extensive areas on the Yucatan Peninsula, Caribbean islands, and the Florida Everglades (Fig. 1; Estrada-Loera 1991; Borhidi 1991; Chiappy-Jhones et al. 2001). These limestone-based wetlands are characterized by rather extreme conditions in terms of hydrology, nutrient availability and salinity, which limit growth of freshwater macrophytes (Borhidi 1991; Rejmánková et al. 1996). Extreme conditions are highly suitable for the development of cyanobacterial mats, formed by complex assemblages of cyanobacteria, eubacteria, and eukaryotic algae (Stal 2000; Paerl et al. 2002), which are the dominant primary producers in most of these wetlands. Although similar in many respects, these highly diverse and (relatively) isolated marshes have conditioned the adaptation and stabilization of cyanobacteria and algae, specifi cally diatoms, into numerous specialized eco-and morphotypes, with what appears a high degree of endemism (La Hée and Gaiser 2012).
