Publication Date:
2011-06-23
Description:
The European Union’s Water Framework Directive has set a target of achieving good ecological status for all aquatic environments in Europe by 2015. In order to determine the quality of aquatic environments, biological indicators such as diatoms are often used. However, biotic diatom indices can be difficult and time consuming to use because of complexity of species determination. We investigated whether the biological traits of diatoms in rivers (life-forms, size classes and ecological guilds) could be used to assess organic pollution and trophic level. We worked on a data set comprising 315 diatom species, determined at 328 river stations of south-east France and a variety of parameters. The abundances of some biological traits differed significantly between the different organic pollution and trophic levels, particularly stalked diatoms, and the motile and low-profile guilds. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-13 DOI 10.1007/s10750-011-0786-1 Authors Vincent Berthon, INRA, UMR CARRTEL, 75 av. de Corzent, BP 511, 74203 Thonon-les-Bains Cedex, France Agnès Bouchez, INRA, UMR CARRTEL, 75 av. de Corzent, BP 511, 74203 Thonon-les-Bains Cedex, France Frédéric Rimet, INRA, UMR CARRTEL, 75 av. de Corzent, BP 511, 74203 Thonon-les-Bains Cedex, France Journal Hydrobiologia Online ISSN 1573-5117 Print ISSN 0018-8158
Print ISSN:
0018-8158
Electronic ISSN:
1573-5117
Topics:
Biology
