Water quality assessment of a neotropical pampean lowland stream using a phytoplankton functional trait approach

MEDRANO, JONATHAN; CALVI, CLAUDIA; FRAU, DIEGO; GIORGI, ADONIS

ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT

SPRINGER

Lugar: Berlin; Año: 2019 vol. 191

0167-6369

The aim of this study was to test whether thewater quality phytoplankton assemblage index adaptedfor rivers (Qr index) is useful to characterize the waterquality of a neotropical stream. We were interested alsoin inferring the main pollutants through a phytoplanktonfunctional trait characterization and assessing the phytoplanktongroups which may influence the Qr indexfinal estimations. Monthly sampling of environmentalvariables and phytoplankton were done in three sites(S1, S2, and S3). Phytoplankton was classified accordingto Reynolds Functional Groups (RFG) and waterquality estimation was performed using the Qr index.Principal coordinates (PCO) and PERMANOVA wereapplied to identify the main pollutants through the RFG.RFG linkage to Qr values was assessed by general linearmodels (GLM). ?Moderate? water quality was found inS1 the whole year, in all sampling stations during thewinter, and in summer?autumn in S2. ?Regular? waterquality was found in S3 during the summer?autumn,and S2?S3 during the spring. S1 and S2 showed eutrophic,standing, or mix waters whereas S3 had highorganic matter content and eutrophic conditions. Despitesome RFG (X1 and MP) being linked to high Qrvalues and some other (M, S1 and Z) to low, theirdominance did not influence water quality estimationperformed by the Qr.We conclude that the Qr index wasuseful for assessing the water quality. Though RFGwere valuable for inferring eutrophication, organic pollution,and mixing, but their dominance does not necessarilyhave a direct effect on the final Qr estimation.