Yeast communities were assessed in 14
rivers and four
lakes from the Doce
River basin in
Brazil, during the rainy and dry
seasons of the years 2000 and 2001.
Water samples were collected at the subsurface in all sites. The following physical and chemical
parameters were measured
temperature,
dissolved oxygen,
pH,
electrical conductivity, total
phosphorus, ortho-
phosphate,
ammonium,
nitrate,
nitrite and total
nitrogen and the counts of faecal
coliforms and
heterotrophic bacteria were carried out to characterize the aquatic environmental sampled. The
yeast counts were higher in aquatic
environments with the highest counts of coliform and
heterotrophic bacteria. These
environments receive a high influx of domestic and
industrial waste. A total of 317 isolates identified in forty eight
yeast species were recorded in the sites sampled and the specie
Aureobasidium pullulans were found in eleven out of eighteen sites sampled and some opportunistic pathogens such as the
yeast species
Candida krusei were isolated only in the polluted
rivers with a positive correlation with the biotic and abiotic
parameters that indicate
sewage contamination.