No abstract

Nitrogen and phosphorus are the primary nutrients that affect water quality in streams in the midwestern USA and high concentrations of these nutrients tend to increase algal biomass. However, how nutrients interact with physical controls in regulating algal biomass is not well known in agricultural streams. Eighteen streams in east-central Illinois (USA) were sampled during June and September 2003 to analyze factors possibly regulating algal biomass. Additionally, two shaded and two non-shaded sites in the Embarras River in east-central Illinois were sampled intensively from June to December 2003. Both sestonic and periphytic chlorophyll-a (chl-a) were analyzed, and periphytic chl-a was assessed on natural substrata and unglazed ceramic tiles. Although high concentrations of nutrients were found in these streams (mean total P=0.09-0.122 mg l )1 and mean NO 3 -N=4.4-8.4 mg l )1 ), concentrations of sestonic chl-a were low among all sites and both sampling periods (<18 mg m )3 , median values of 5 and 3 in June and September, respectively). Filamentous algae were an important component of the algal communities in streams with stable substrata. Periphytic chl-a was generally not related to the concentration of N or P in the water column, and in non-shaded streams periphyton appeared at times to be light-limited due to turbid water. Turbidity was found to be an important factor controlling chl-a on ceramic tiles across the 18 sites and for the Embarras River sites; chl-a decreased exponentially in concentration (132-0 mg m )2 ) as turbidity increased from 4 to 39 NTU (r 2 =0.80). In general, the interaction between hydrology and light (turbidity) likely controlled algal biomass in these nutrient-rich, agricultural streams.

No abstract

Increased urbanization in many tropical regions has led to an increase in centralized treatment of sewage effluents. Research regarding the effects of these wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) on the ecology of tropical streams is sparse, so we examined the effects of WWTPs on stream water quality on the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico. Nutrient concentrations, discharge, dissolved oxygen (DO), biochemical oxygen demand (CBOD), and specific UV absorbance (SUVA) at 254 nm were measured upstream from the WWTP effluent, at the WWTP effluent, and below the WWTP effluent. All parameters measured (except DO) were significantly affected by discharge of WWTP effluent to the stream. The values of SUVA at 254 nm were typically lower (<2.5 m mg L) in WWTP effluents than those measured upstream of the WWTP, suggesting that WWTP effluents are contributing labile carbon fractions to receiving streams, thus changing the chemical composition of dissolved organic carbon in downstream reaches. Effluents from WWTP contributed on average 24% to the stream flow at our tropical streams. More than 40% of the nutrient loads in receiving streams came from WWTP effluents, with the effects on NO-N and PO-P loads being the greatest. The effect of WWTPs on nutrient loads was significantly larger than the effect of flow due to the elevated nutrient concentrations in treated effluents. Our results demonstrate that inputs from WWTPs to streams contribute substantially to changes in water quality, potentially affecting downstream ecosystems. Our findings highlight the need to establish nutrient criteria for tropical streams to minimize degradation of downstream water quality of the receiving streams.