Diatoms as indicators of historical water quality: A comparison of samples taken in the Wemmershoek catchment (Western Province, South Africa) in 1960 and 2008

Harding, W. R.

doi:10.4314/wsa.v40i4.4

Cited by 20 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 12 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Therefore, the primary producers of the microphytobenthos as an important food source for all species of aquatic organisms have never been studied. Diatom indices used in biomonitoring of water quality of the mostly of the rivers [4][5][6][7][8][9][10] but very poorly marked on the marine benthic ecosystems [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. Despite the fact that diversity species of the microphytobenthos of the Black Sea is well studied in different ecotopes [18][19][20][21][22].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Species Diversity of Epilithon Diatoms and the Quality of the Waters of the Donuzlav Gulf Ecosystem (Crimea, the Black Sea)

2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this work, the species diversity of epilithon diatoms of Donuzlav Gulf (Crimean coastal waters of the Black Sea) is presented for the first time. A total of 60 taxa of Bacillariophyta belonging to 3 classes, 18 families and 34 genera were found. The largest number of species (45) of diatoms was observed in summer, and the smallest number of species (12) in winter. A total of 25 saprobity indicator species of diatoms was found on the epilithon, 12 taxa of which belong to a group of betamesosaprobionts—indicators of moderate organic pollution of water. Marine species comprise 55% and brackish-marine ones make up 37% of them, but no freshwater species were identified. The diatom community was dominated by cosmopolites (32%) and arctic–boreal–tropical species (27%). The maximal abundance (186.2 × 103 cells cm−2) and biomass (0.083 mg cm−2) of diatoms was noted in June 2018 at salinity 16.58‰ and T = 24.4 °C with the dominant cosmopolites species of Licmophora abbreviata and Cocconeis scutellum. The minimum values, 14.8 × 103 cells cm−2 and 0.005 mg cm−2, were observed in January 2019 at salinity 16.86‰ and T = 9.0 °C with the dominant Berkeleya rutilans and Nitzschia hybrida f. hyalina. The high values of BOD5, oxidizability, silicon, Norg and Porg were noted, indicating a certain degree of water pollution by domestic sewage. It has been shown that the pollution in the southwestern part of the Donuzlav Gulf is greatest since this part of the coast was populated most densely in comparison with the northern coast of the Gulf where there are no coastal settlements except for two mariculture farms.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In our work we used the method of monitoring the quality water of the environment on saprobity indicators developed for diatoms and adopted species names to modern system [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]18,[27][28][29]. The species composition of diatoms was determined using the following sources [18,[29][30][31][32].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Species Diversity of Epilithon Diatoms and the Quality of the Waters of the Donuzlav Gulf Ecosystem (Crimea, the Black Sea)

2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…To numerically express the relative ecological status of ecosystems, diatom indices have also been developed based on the presence and frequency of diatom species in phytobenthos in both lentic and lotic ecosystems (Kelly et al. , Harding and Taylor , Szczepocka et al. , Holmes and Taylor , Żelazna‐Wieczorek and Nowicka‐Krawczyk , Kolada et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many diatom species are sensitive to changes in environmental factors and occur only in certain environmental conditions, which allows them to be used as indicators of certain characteristics of the aquatic environment (Round 1981, Round et al 1990, Kelly et al 2012. To numerically express the relative ecological status of ecosystems, diatom indices have also been developed based on the presence and frequency of diatom species in phytobenthos in both lentic and lotic ecosystems (Kelly et al 2008, Harding and Taylor 2014, Szczepocka et al 2014, Holmes and Taylor 2015, _ Zelazna-Wieczorek and Nowicka-Krawczyk 2015, Kolada et al 2016. Moreover, investigating diatom assemblages in core sediments enables paleoecological reconstructions which reveal past environmental conditions (Witak 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deceptive ecological status of urban streams and rivers—evidence from diatom indices

2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Urbanization directly affects the ecological status of streams and rivers: Their beds and drainage basins are often heavily transformed and their habitat conditions disturbed. The aim of the study was to evaluate the extent of human impact in streams in the city of Łódź, Central Poland (~700,000 inhabitants), by pattern recognition analysis of benthic diatom assemblage samples using a Kohonen artificial neural network, principal component analysis, and indicator species analysis. The study also determined the ecological status of the streams using five diatom indices: Multimetric Diatom Index, Specific Pollution Sensitivity Index, Generic Diatom Index, Biological Diatom Index, and Trophic Diatom Index. The samples demonstrated considerable variation in ecological status. Examples of poor and bad ecological status were observed, clearly resulting from strong human pressure; however, good status and moderate status were also recorded, both at natural sites and, unexpectedly, those which were severely transformed, whose beds were covered with concrete and which were located downstream from combined sewer overflows. Such sites demonstrated high water conductivity of up to 1440 μS/cm, but this was accompanied by other more favorable conditions: The water flowed from upstream stretches enclosed in downtown underground canals with a fast current, low water temperature, and high average concentration of dissolved oxygen (approximately 10 mg/dm3). These conditions had a mitigating effect, shaping the diatom assemblages to a specific form with the highest species richness and the highest number of indicator taxa observed in the study. In summary, the hydromorphological transformation of streambeds may result in seemingly good ecological status at heavily degraded sites. Therefore, conclusions based on diatom‐based biomonitoring of urban streams and rivers should be drawn with caution.

show abstract

“…Diatom indices and ecological systems based on the bioindication values of particular diatom species, derived from various environmental parameters, constitute a fundamental tool in the biological assessment of environments. Diatom indices have been commonly used to assess flowing and standing water for over 20 years (Kelly et al 2008;Harding & Taylor 2014;Szczepocka et al 2014;Hutorowicz & Pasztaleniec 2014;Holms & Taylor 2015;Kolada et al 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Untitled

Supplemental Information 1: Classes of Ecological Indicators Values by Van Dam Et Al. (1994)

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Diatoms as indicators of historical water quality: A comparison of samples taken in the Wemmershoek catchment (Western Province, South Africa) in 1960 and 2008

Cited by 20 publications

References 12 publications

Species Diversity of Epilithon Diatoms and the Quality of the Waters of the Donuzlav Gulf Ecosystem (Crimea, the Black Sea)

Species Diversity of Epilithon Diatoms and the Quality of the Waters of the Donuzlav Gulf Ecosystem (Crimea, the Black Sea)

Deceptive ecological status of urban streams and rivers—evidence from diatom indices

Untitled

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About