Phytoplankton of the Lower Section of the Southern Bug River as the Index of Its Ecological State

Reynolds phytoplankton functional classification approach helps evaluate the historical ecological status of the large European Southern Bug River (Ukraine)

“…(Belous, 2016). At the same time, current studies (Belous et al, 2016;Bilous et al, 2012Bilous et al, , 2014 also confirmed a high resistance of the ecosystem against pollution impacts due to the high self-purification ability including the rapids effect in this part of the river. The prevalence of algae belonging only to Chlorophyta species could be a result of the high river flow regulation nowadays (Khilchevskyy et al, 2009;Vyshnevskyy & Kosovec', 2003).…”

“…The prevalence of "moderate" ecological status is quite similar nowadays (Belous et al, 2016;Bilous et al, 2012); however, for some parts of the river, the values are higher showing a deteriorated river status (Bilous et al, 2014). The current studies testify that the impact of human alterations reflected in the increase of organic substances (namely organic bound nutrients) causing water pollution in all the river sections (Belous et al, 2016;Bilous et al, 2013Bilous et al, , 2014. The historical ecological conditions along the studied river contrasted with a common point of view on rivers as continuous, longitudinal gradients in physical conditions (Vannote et al, 1980).…”

“…Among European rivers for which phytoplankton has extensively been studied during the last decade (Belous et al, 2016;Bilous et al, 2012Bilous et al, , 2014 but the reference conditions have yet not been identified is the Southern Bug River. Recent studies highlighted the high taxonomic richness of phytoplankton and an increase in anthropogenic pollution in this river (Belous et al, 2016;Bilous et al, 2012Bilous et al, , 2014. However, data on the historical ecological conditions of the Southern Bug River, which could be used toward reference conditions (Afanasiev et al, 2014), are still missing.…”

Macrophytes and Charophytes in Ecological Assessment of the Protected Lakes in Donetsk Region, Ukraine

“…Freshwater algae are widely used as bio-indicators of aquatic environment [1] but ecological assessment with algal, charophytes, and macrophyte aquatic plants is in Ukraine in initial step only [2][3][4]. Avoid species ecology and its habitats, in Ukraine mostly give attention to some biological activities of this species with detailed description of species morphology and floristic aspects [5].…”

“…In recent, bio-indication approach in the Eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea basins is rather developed [2][3][4]13] not only with microscopic algae but also with charophytes macroalgae [14,15]. We implemented of summarized information about species autecology [16,17] for macrophytes and macroalgal community from the three different lakes in purpose to characterize the environment in each lake that are important as recreation and wildlife objects.…”