Title: Water quality monitoring in wetland ecosystems using microbial model communities

Authors: Vladimir Zolotarev

Addresses: Institute for Biology of Inland Waters, Russian Academy of Sciences, Borok, Yaroslavl oblast, 152742, Russian Federation

Abstract: This study reviews the concept of model communities for water quality assessment in aquatic ecosystems. The feeding habits of protozoans were used to unite species into functional, trophic groups. Colonising communities were dominated by bacterivorous Flagellate Species (S_f). A new Index of Periphyton Flagellates (IPF) as an indicator of the trophic status of a water-body was developed. Periphyton biodiversity and relative abundance of protozoans can be used as indicators of toxic pollution and acidification. Several advantages of using microscale periphyton communities for the development of online biosensors of pollutional stress and implementation of information technology are discussed.

Keywords: water quality control; periphyton; microbial communities; model communities; bioindicators; index of periphyton flagellates; IPF; trophic status; toxic pollution; acidification; aquatic ecosystems; online biosensors; pollutional stress; quality monitoring; wetlands.

DOI: 10.1504/IJW.2007.015216

International Journal of Water, 2007 Vol.3 No.3, pp.231 - 242

Published online: 27 Sep 2007 *

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