Role of benthic diatoms in the implementation of the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive in the River Wear, North-East England

• Published in: Journal of applied phycology Vol. 14; no. 1; pp. 9 - 18
• Main Author: KELLY, M. G
• Format: Conference Proceeding Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer 01.02.2002
• Subjects: Analysis methods; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Applied ecology; Applied sciences; Bacillariophyceae; Bacillariophyta; Biological and medical sciences; Ecotoxicology, biological effects of pollution; Exact sciences and technology; Fresh water environment; Freshwater; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Natural water pollution; Pollution; Water treatment and pollution; England; United Kingdom; Great Britain; Europe; British Isles, England, Tyne and Wear, Wear R; British Isles, England; European Union; British Isles, Wear R; Algae; Biological indicator; Phosphorus; Rivers; Spatial variation; Time variation; Eutrophication; Heterokontophyta; Species diversity; Bacillariophyta; Water quality; Nutrient; Water pollution; Environmental monitoring; Thallophyta
• ISSN: 0921-8971; 1573-5176
• DOI: 10.1023/A:1015236404305

Five years of data on diatom assemblages and nutrient concentrations in the River Wear, northeast England, were analyzed to evaluate the degree of between-year variation that could be expected in a water quality monitoring study. The river flows through a densely populated region that is a candidate for sewage treatment operations improvements to incorporate nutrient removal into the process. The Trophic Diatom Index was used to interpret diatom data indicated a clear increase in eutrophication with distance downstream, although within-site variability confounded the analysis. Use of such multivariate techniques as TWINSPAN in conjunction with diatom indices gave a more rigorous interpretation of spatial changes.