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Hydrobiologia (2012) 695:265279 DOI 10.1007/s10750-012-1197-7
ALGAE FOR MONITORING RIVERS
Ecological assessment of Portuguese reservoirs based on littoral epilithic diatoms
Maria Helena Novais Sal Blanco
Cristina Delgado Manuela Morais
Lucien Hoffmann Luc Ector
Received: 29 January 2010 / Accepted: 14 March 2011 / Published online: 7 June 2012 Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012
Abstract The objective of this study was to evaluate whether biological methods based on epilithic littoral diatoms are a valuable complement to other biological elements for the assessment of the ecological potential of reservoirs in Portugal, in accordance with the requirements of the European Water Framework Directive. The statistical analysis performed (PCA, DCA, ANOSIM and SIMPER) based on the study of diatom communities of 18 reservoirs allowed the following results: (i) the separation of all the a priori dened types (North, Main Courses and South) was
proved; (ii) there were no signicant differences between reservoirs classied as reference and non-reference and (iii) the classication of the reservoirs as reference or non-reference based on the use of the diatom Specic Pollution sensitivity Index as a complementary variable allowed the denition of Maximum Ecological Potential reservoirs for the North and South types. Methods based on the use of epilithic littoral diatoms can therefore contribute, together with other biological elements, for the assessment of the ecological potential of aquatic lentic systems in Portugal, almost exclusively constituted by reservoirs.
Keywords Epilithon Heavily modied water
bodies Littoral diatoms Portugal
Water Framework Directive
Introduction
Diatoms have been widely used to assess the ecological status in European rivers (Kelly & Whitton, 1995; Prygiel & Coste, 1999; Kelly et al., 2008). In Portugal, several studies using diatoms as water quality indicators in rivers have also been performed, mainly in the central region of the country (Almeida, 2001; Almeida & Gil, 2001; Nunes et al., 2003; Feio et al., 2007). However, studies on the use of littoral diatoms for water quality monitoring in lentic environments are scarce due to the great microhabitat variability found
Guest editors: L. Ector, D. Hlbikov & L. Hoffmann / Proceedings of the 7th International Symposium Use of Algae for Monitoring Rivers, Luxembourg, November 2325, 2009
M. H. Novais (&) S. Blanco L. Hoffmann L. Ector
Department of Environment and Agro-biotechnologies (EVA), Public Research Centre Gabriel Lippmann, 41...