RESUMO
Effects of metal pollution from a zinc factory on microbenthic algal communities were assessed in three neighboring streams on the Dutch-Belgian border. Diatom species composition was experimentally related to water quality by transferring racks with colonized glass discs from a polluted stream to a reference stream and vice versa. The succession of species and the changes in biomass and metal accumulation were measured during experiments in spring, autumn, and winter. Metal concentrations and dry weight in translocated biofilms tended to conform with those in local biofilms within an incubation time of 14 to 18 days. Bray-Curtis similarity values from the different communities indicated that diatom communities responded more completely to the metal-polluted conditions than to the reference water quality. Cymbella minuta, Diatoma vulgare var. ehrenbergii, Navicula sp., and Melosira varians had a lower percentage in assemblages placed in the metal-polluted streams. In contrast, Pinnularia sp. and Neidium ampliatum decreased in assemblages from the polluted streams that were transferred to the reference stream. Achnanthes minutissima and Navicula seminulum (N. atomus) proliferated on any translocation, possibly reflecting an opportunistic strategy and a high tolerance for Zn and Cd. The behavior of the species in relation to metal pollution generally accorded with observations in the literature. However, it seems that metal tolerance is not the only selective factor, and other ecological variables may also influence the composition of microphytobenthic communities.http://link.springer-ny. com/link/service/journals/00244/bibs/37n1p19.html
RESUMO
The response of microbenthic communities to sustained metal stress was studied in three lowland rivers with different levels of pollution. Tolerance against zinc and cadmium was determined in short-term toxicity tests with microbenthic assemblages colonizing glass discs. Photosynthetic activity served as an endpoint in tests for algae, whereas for bacteria thymidine incorporation was determined. For bacterial assemblages from unpolluted locations, EC50 values in short-term tests ranged between 6.7 and 56.2 &mgr;M zinc, and 8.7 and 25.5 &mgr;M cadmium, respectively. Bacterial assemblages from the two most polluted sites were significantly more tolerant for zinc (EC50: 994 &mgr;M and >1,000 &mgr;M) and cadmium (EC50: 218 &mgr;M and 154 &mgr;M). Results indicated a shift in community composition toward pollution-adapted organisms when a threshold concentration of 1 &mgr;M zinc is exceeded. Although an increasing community tolerance was also indicated for algae, EC50 values for microbenthic algae from all sites exceeded in most cases the highest metal concentrations tested (Zn: 1,000 &mgr;M; Cd: 320 &mgr;M). Since species composition of algal assemblages was found to change at much lower metal levels, it is concluded that short-term toxicity tests measuring photosynthesis inhibition do not reflect well the long-term effects of these metals. Toxic effects of metals on both algal and bacterial assemblages are attenuated by precipitation and complexing capacities of the biofilm.
