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An Integration of Water Physicochemistry, Algal Bioassays, Phytoplankton, and Zooplankton for Ecotoxicological Assessment in a Highly Polluted Lowland River

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Abstract

Results of different approaches potentially useful for the evaluation of water ambient quality were analysed and compared in a small temperate lowland river with mixed diffuse and multiple-point source pollution. The Reconquista River (Buenos Aires Province, Argentina), one of the most polluted watercourses of Latin America, receives agrochemicals as well as domestic and industrial (mostly untreated) effluents. Physical and chemical water variables were determined; unispecies algal bioassays (with Chlorella pyrenoidosa and Scenedesmus acutus) were carried out in laboratory; and density and structure of phyto- and zooplankton were analysed at three sites in four dates (representing a range of likely conditions in the river). A general scheme of association among plankton, bioassays and physical/chemical variables was elaborated, that helped to infer possible control factors in this multi-stressed system. Some empirical methods, but mainly mathematical ones including multivariate techniques (as PCA, cluster analysis), were applied for evaluation of samples. A preliminary selection of indices and attributes as potential indicators of the water river quality was made, and then applied for assay a tentative integrative ordination of samples. The relative best water quality was recorded when-where dissolved oxygen concentration, algal diversity and planktonic crustacean density were higher. The worst water quality corresponded to the lack of cladocerans and lowest crustacean density, and higher: organic and industrial pollution, major nutrients (ammonium and orthophosphates), BOD, hardness, conductivity, algal biomass in bioassays, phytoplankton density (>10 000 ind. mL-1), dominance of a single algal species (>90%), and rotifer proportion in zooplankton (>85%).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Universitaria, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Héctor F. Olguín & Carolina R. Loez

  2. División Limnología, Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales ‘B. Rivadavia’ Av. A, Gallardo 470, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Héctor F. Olguín & Alba Puig

  3. Programa de Ecofisiología Aplicada, Universidad Nacional de Luján, Casilla de Correo 221, Luján, Argentina

    Alfredo Salibián, Mirta L. Topalián, Patricia M. Castañé & María G. Rovedatti

  4. Carrera del Investigador Científico Tecnológico, Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas, Provincia de Buenos Aires, La Plata, Argentina

    Alfredo Salibián

Authors
  1. Héctor F. Olguín
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  2. Alba Puig
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  3. Carolina R. Loez
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  4. Alfredo Salibián
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  5. Mirta L. Topalián
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  6. Patricia M. Castañé
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  7. María G. Rovedatti
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Correspondence to Alba Puig.

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Olguín, H.F., Puig, A., Loez, C.R. et al. An Integration of Water Physicochemistry, Algal Bioassays, Phytoplankton, and Zooplankton for Ecotoxicological Assessment in a Highly Polluted Lowland River. Water, Air, & Soil Pollution 155, 355–381 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:WATE.0000026538.51477.c2

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