Goi, Daniele

Pieri, Valentina

Rossi, Giada

Vandekerkhove, Jochen

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39vAlentinA pieri1,2, GiADA rossi2, Jochen vAnDeKerKhove3, DAniele Goi21Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Freshwater Biology, Vautierstraat 29, 1000 Brussels, Belgium; 2Department of Department of Chemistry, Physics and Environment,	University	of	Udine,	via	del	Cotonificio	108,	33100	Udine, Italy; 3European Commission - Joint Research Centre, Institute for Environment and Sustainability (IES - RWER unit), Building 30 (TP 300), Via Enrico Fermi 2749, Ispra (VA) I-21027, ItalyWastewater discharges associated with urbanisations, farming activities and industry may dramatically reduce the ecological health of river ecosys-tems.	Their	efficiency	is	usually	assessed	through	monitoring	of	the	physical	and chemical environment near the discharge point. However, discontinu-ous monitoring of the abiotic environment may fail to detect periodic mal-functioning and do not recognize indirect effects on the ecosystem. We assessed the potential of an alternative approach to assess the impact of wastewater discharges, based on the monitoring of ostracod Ostracoda (Crustacea)  as indicators for  surface water quality:  a case study from the  Ledra River basin (NE Italy)40density, richness and community composition. We linked community structure of Recent non marine ostracods (Crustacea: Ostracoda) with physical-chemical (altitude, water temperature, pH, total alkalinity, elec-tric	conductivity,	chemical	oxygen	demand	and	concentrations	of	major	ions and nutrients) and microbiological (total coliform bacteria and fecal coliform Escherichia coli) parameters at stations before and after waste-water treatment plants in a river basin. The study area covers all the Ledra River basin (21 km long), localized in Friuli Venezia Giulia (NE Italy). This basin includes a variety of habi-tat typologies as lowland springs, channels and streams, with different levels of anthropogenic impact. In the study area 27 sampling stations were selected, 8 of these were located near the water treatment plant effluents	in	the	main	river	course.	All	stations	were	visited	twice	a	year	from September 2008 until September 2011 and samples were drawn before	and	after	the	effluent	flows.The results indicate that monitoring ostracods is a potentially valu-able approach, for two reasons. Communities appeared to be well dif-ferentiated even in the small spatial area of this study, indicating that they	 can	 provide	 sufficient	 resolution	 to	 pick	 up	 even	minor	 impacts.	Secondly, despite the seasonal succession in species composition, spa-tial differentiation was consistent over time, suggesting that ostracods provide a time-integrated picture of the water quality.On the other hand, discharges did not affect the physical or chemical environment based on the repeated snapshot samplings. These results suggest that the monitoring of ostracods provides an integrated picture of the water quality of a lotic system, even on a very local scale.

Ostracoda (Crustacea) as indicators for surface water quality: a case study from the Ledra River basin (NE Italy)

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Ostracoda (Crustacea) as indicators for surface water quality: a case study from the Ledra River basin (NE Italy)

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