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Ecological assessment of Portuguese reservoirs based on littoral epilithic diatoms

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Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate whether biological methods based on epilithic littoral diatoms are a valuable complement to other biological elements for the assessment of the ecological potential of reservoirs in Portugal, in accordance with the requirements of the European Water Framework Directive. The statistical analysis performed (PCA, DCA, ANOSIM and SIMPER) based on the study of diatom communities of 18 reservoirs allowed the following results: (i) the separation of all the a priori defined types (North, Main Courses and South) was proved; (ii) there were no significant differences between reservoirs classified as reference and non-reference and (iii) the classification of the reservoirs as reference or non-reference based on the use of the diatom Specific Pollution sensitivity Index as a complementary variable allowed the definition of Maximum Ecological Potential reservoirs for the North and South types. Methods based on the use of epilithic littoral diatoms can therefore contribute, together with other biological elements, for the assessment of the ecological potential of aquatic lentic systems in Portugal, almost exclusively constituted by reservoirs.

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Acknowledgments

This project was supported by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal (grant SFRH/BD/21625/2005), by the Fonds National de la Recherche (Luxembourg) (grant AFR, PHD-09-120), by the project ‘Qualidade ecológica e gestão integrada de albufeiras’ Contrato protocolar no. 2003/067/INAG and by the Centre de Recherche Public—Gabriel Lippmann (Luxembourg). The authors are grateful to the team of Instituto Superior de Agronomia (ISA) for collecting the samples, to Joana Rosado for the valuable statistical advice, to Vanessa Peardon for the English revision and to the two anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions that greatly improved the quality of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environment and Agro-biotechnologies (EVA), Public Research Centre – Gabriel Lippmann, 41 rue du Brill, 4422, Belvaux, Luxembourg

    Maria Helena Novais, Saúl Blanco, Lucien Hoffmann & Luc Ector

  2. Laboratório da Água, Centro de Geofísica de Évora, Parque Industrial e Tecnológico, Universidade de Évora, Rua da Barba Rala nº 1, 7005-345, Évora, Portugal

    Maria Helena Novais & Manuela Morais

  3. Department of Biodiversity and Environmental Management, University of León, 24071, León, Spain

    Saúl Blanco

  4. Departamento de Ecología y Biología Animal, Universidad de Vigo, 36330, Vigo, Spain

    Cristina Delgado

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  1. Maria Helena Novais
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  2. Saúl Blanco
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  3. Cristina Delgado
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  4. Manuela Morais
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  5. Lucien Hoffmann
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  6. Luc Ector
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Correspondence to Maria Helena Novais.

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Guest editors: L. Ector, D. Hlúbiková & L. Hoffmann / Proceedings of the 7th International Symposium “Use of Algae for Monitoring Rivers”, Luxembourg, November 23–25, 2009

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Novais, M.H., Blanco, S., Delgado, C. et al. Ecological assessment of Portuguese reservoirs based on littoral epilithic diatoms. Hydrobiologia 695, 265–279 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-012-1197-7

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