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Methods for the use of aquatic macrophytes for assessing water quality 1985–1986
101 ASSESSING WATER QUALITY
Methods for the Use of Aquatic Macrophytes for Assessing Water Quality 198586. Methods for the Examination of Waters and Associated Materials, H.M.S.O. Publications Centre, London, 1987, 176 pp., £10.50, ISBN: 01175-2000-4. This booklet is part of a series prepared by the Standing Committee of Analysts, a Committee of the Department of the Environment in London. In this booklet three methods for using macrophytes to assess the water quality are described. Two methods are intended for use with streams and rivers (A and B), the third method (C) is for lakes and ponds. The methods are followed by useful extracts from the Nature Conservancy Council publication, "Typing British Rivers according to their Flora", by Nigel Holmes. The first method (A), "Surveying of Macrophytes in Watercourses", was elaborated by Dr. S.M. Haslam. It is a semi-quantitative rapid method, which compares the vegetation found on a site with that described for a clean and undamaged similar site in Great Britain. Currently, pollution indicators are usable only where undamaged vegetation is plentiful and predictable. Sites are classified by rock type, landscape and size. The use of the method for determining a stream damage rating index (SDRindex) is demonstrated by 14 examples. Several criteria have to be recorded for producing the stream damage rating, i.e. species diversity, decrease in diversity, percentage decrease in percentage vegetation cover, change in trophic status band, percentage of pollution-tolerant species and weighting for special species. The second method (B), "The Survey and Assessment of Macrophytes in Watercourses", was elaborated by Dr. J.P. Harding, and allows for a total of seven different combinations of defined survey length and scales for recording the relative biomass and percentage cover of plant taxa defined in a single check-list. The method uses a more detailed recording system, and the species present, cover and biomass are all allocated points. This leads to both a plant community description and a plant score. The plant score assesses pollution in the same way as invertebrate scores. The use of data will be demonstrated by the following three examples: Typing rivers according to their flora for conservation purposes, monitoring of river quality and pollution as well as uses of macrophytes to monitor contamination by heavy metals. Some useful tables describe the field check-list, the habitat features, the plant score and the tolerance to pollution of some macrophytes. An appendix describes plant communities classified on the basis of data from a method (B) survey, using TWINSPAN-computer analysis.
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The third method (C) demonstrates "The Surveying of Macrophytes in Standing Waters", like lakes and large ponds. It describes the use of the pointquadrat method to determine the species present or species absent, the percentage cover, the density and the site record. The most important variables determining the lake vegetation have been discussed, such as water depth, circulation pattern, liability of the site, its water and bed, wind regime, nutrient status of water and sediment, and surrounding vegetation and human activities. The method gives only a general division into categories of trophic status; it does not lead to a full pollution index. The application of the method has been demonstrated by qualitative examples of the investigations on Swiss lakes. The useful extracts from the book "Typing British Rivers according to their Flora" by N. Holmes give an important base for the use of all the three methods (A, B and C). The author establishes a combination of the hierarchical system of classification based on altitude, geology and trophic status and the communities identified by the TWINSPAN-computer analysis. One thousand and fifty-five sites of over 200 rivers and tributaries were surveyed. In the classification into 56 community types four major groups have been distinguished. The added figures and tables give detailed information about the distribution of the community types in Great Britain and, furthermore, about the relative species richness of the 56 communities and the percentage occurrence of species in each community type, and they indicate the species which are important components in each of the communities. By reference to the key of the tables, it is easy to see which plants are the indicator species of the four major groups and of each community. The presented methods (A, B, C ) enable a rapid and easy assessment of the water pollution and eutrophication of running and standing waters on the basis of variations in the species composition. In consequence of the simple technique and the selection of species which can be observed easily, the methods are a useful addition to the analytical examination of water quality and the conditions of soil substrates and sediments of rivers, lakes and ponds. All of the three methods are semi-quantitative methods for the use of aquatic macrophytes and their communities for assessing the water quality and for pollution monitoring. The variations in the species richness, in the floristic structure, in the decrease or increase of species, in the cover and frequency of species and the relative biomass of each species against the total biomass of the vegetation of the whole site are important and useful criteria for assessing and monitoring pollution and the trophic status. Method A records only species which can be observed easily. This consideration provides that among these species all indicator plants indicating the site conditions must be included. The estimate of the relative biomass after Method B on the basis of using a scale increasing from one to five without any accurate measurement of dry weight is very subjective. The description of Method C does not contain a detailed definition and classification of the hab-
103
itat conditions in relation to the specific macrophytic vegetation. In this case, the method gives only recommendations for carrying out investigations. Information is not given about the indicator value of the most important species against pollution and eutrophication in standing waters caused by human activities. With all of the three methods, there is no weighting of the alterations within plant communities, indicated by variations of the floristic structure, the cover and frequency of the species, the decrease of species and the relative biomass. The comprehensive data published by Holmes (1983) provide an important basis for the application of Methods A and B and allow the monitoring of the site and environment conditions. The exact recording of the ecological factors requires additionally detailed hydrochemical, limnological and hydrobiological measurements. The present booklet should be a useful addition to the "Methods for the examination of waters and associated materials" and gives simple ecological and limnobotanical methods for practical use. It should be a suitable tool in the hands of people who work in the field of environment researches and is, therefore, recommendable to ecologists, hydrobiologists, geobotanists, limnologists and experts of water supply and management. W. PIETSCH A m Tiilchen 16 04 4,5 8027 Dresden D.D.R.
MARINE MICROBIOLOGY
Marine Microbiology, by B. Austin. Cambridge University Press, U.K., 222 pp., softcover, £10.95/US$19.95 ISBN: 0-521-31130-6, hardcover, £27.50/US$ 59.50, ISBN: 0-521-32252-9. According to its author in his preface, Marine Microbiology was written for undergraduates and young researchers to provide "a concise text detailing the current understanding" in this field and emphasizing "new and exciting developments such as those relating to biotechnology, fish and shellfish pathology, and the concept of dormancy". I believe any reasonably discriminating student would find the result unsatisfactory on a number of levels. Reading the material, misgivings arise early with the discovery, also in the preface, that estuarine ecosystems are to be "largely ignored" because their treatment would require a separate book. If the author could cover the much larger and more general topic of marine microbial ecology in a little over 20
Methods for the Use of Aquatic Macrophytes for Assessing Water Quality 198586. Methods for the Examination of Waters and Associated Materials, H.M.S.O. Publications Centre, London, 1987, 176 pp., £10.50, ISBN: 01175-2000-4. This booklet is part of a series prepared by the Standing Committee of Analysts, a Committee of the Department of the Environment in London. In this booklet three methods for using macrophytes to assess the water quality are described. Two methods are intended for use with streams and rivers (A and B), the third method (C) is for lakes and ponds. The methods are followed by useful extracts from the Nature Conservancy Council publication, "Typing British Rivers according to their Flora", by Nigel Holmes. The first method (A), "Surveying of Macrophytes in Watercourses", was elaborated by Dr. S.M. Haslam. It is a semi-quantitative rapid method, which compares the vegetation found on a site with that described for a clean and undamaged similar site in Great Britain. Currently, pollution indicators are usable only where undamaged vegetation is plentiful and predictable. Sites are classified by rock type, landscape and size. The use of the method for determining a stream damage rating index (SDRindex) is demonstrated by 14 examples. Several criteria have to be recorded for producing the stream damage rating, i.e. species diversity, decrease in diversity, percentage decrease in percentage vegetation cover, change in trophic status band, percentage of pollution-tolerant species and weighting for special species. The second method (B), "The Survey and Assessment of Macrophytes in Watercourses", was elaborated by Dr. J.P. Harding, and allows for a total of seven different combinations of defined survey length and scales for recording the relative biomass and percentage cover of plant taxa defined in a single check-list. The method uses a more detailed recording system, and the species present, cover and biomass are all allocated points. This leads to both a plant community description and a plant score. The plant score assesses pollution in the same way as invertebrate scores. The use of data will be demonstrated by the following three examples: Typing rivers according to their flora for conservation purposes, monitoring of river quality and pollution as well as uses of macrophytes to monitor contamination by heavy metals. Some useful tables describe the field check-list, the habitat features, the plant score and the tolerance to pollution of some macrophytes. An appendix describes plant communities classified on the basis of data from a method (B) survey, using TWINSPAN-computer analysis.
102
The third method (C) demonstrates "The Surveying of Macrophytes in Standing Waters", like lakes and large ponds. It describes the use of the pointquadrat method to determine the species present or species absent, the percentage cover, the density and the site record. The most important variables determining the lake vegetation have been discussed, such as water depth, circulation pattern, liability of the site, its water and bed, wind regime, nutrient status of water and sediment, and surrounding vegetation and human activities. The method gives only a general division into categories of trophic status; it does not lead to a full pollution index. The application of the method has been demonstrated by qualitative examples of the investigations on Swiss lakes. The useful extracts from the book "Typing British Rivers according to their Flora" by N. Holmes give an important base for the use of all the three methods (A, B and C). The author establishes a combination of the hierarchical system of classification based on altitude, geology and trophic status and the communities identified by the TWINSPAN-computer analysis. One thousand and fifty-five sites of over 200 rivers and tributaries were surveyed. In the classification into 56 community types four major groups have been distinguished. The added figures and tables give detailed information about the distribution of the community types in Great Britain and, furthermore, about the relative species richness of the 56 communities and the percentage occurrence of species in each community type, and they indicate the species which are important components in each of the communities. By reference to the key of the tables, it is easy to see which plants are the indicator species of the four major groups and of each community. The presented methods (A, B, C ) enable a rapid and easy assessment of the water pollution and eutrophication of running and standing waters on the basis of variations in the species composition. In consequence of the simple technique and the selection of species which can be observed easily, the methods are a useful addition to the analytical examination of water quality and the conditions of soil substrates and sediments of rivers, lakes and ponds. All of the three methods are semi-quantitative methods for the use of aquatic macrophytes and their communities for assessing the water quality and for pollution monitoring. The variations in the species richness, in the floristic structure, in the decrease or increase of species, in the cover and frequency of species and the relative biomass of each species against the total biomass of the vegetation of the whole site are important and useful criteria for assessing and monitoring pollution and the trophic status. Method A records only species which can be observed easily. This consideration provides that among these species all indicator plants indicating the site conditions must be included. The estimate of the relative biomass after Method B on the basis of using a scale increasing from one to five without any accurate measurement of dry weight is very subjective. The description of Method C does not contain a detailed definition and classification of the hab-
103
itat conditions in relation to the specific macrophytic vegetation. In this case, the method gives only recommendations for carrying out investigations. Information is not given about the indicator value of the most important species against pollution and eutrophication in standing waters caused by human activities. With all of the three methods, there is no weighting of the alterations within plant communities, indicated by variations of the floristic structure, the cover and frequency of the species, the decrease of species and the relative biomass. The comprehensive data published by Holmes (1983) provide an important basis for the application of Methods A and B and allow the monitoring of the site and environment conditions. The exact recording of the ecological factors requires additionally detailed hydrochemical, limnological and hydrobiological measurements. The present booklet should be a useful addition to the "Methods for the examination of waters and associated materials" and gives simple ecological and limnobotanical methods for practical use. It should be a suitable tool in the hands of people who work in the field of environment researches and is, therefore, recommendable to ecologists, hydrobiologists, geobotanists, limnologists and experts of water supply and management. W. PIETSCH A m Tiilchen 16 04 4,5 8027 Dresden D.D.R.
MARINE MICROBIOLOGY
Marine Microbiology, by B. Austin. Cambridge University Press, U.K., 222 pp., softcover, £10.95/US$19.95 ISBN: 0-521-31130-6, hardcover, £27.50/US$ 59.50, ISBN: 0-521-32252-9. According to its author in his preface, Marine Microbiology was written for undergraduates and young researchers to provide "a concise text detailing the current understanding" in this field and emphasizing "new and exciting developments such as those relating to biotechnology, fish and shellfish pathology, and the concept of dormancy". I believe any reasonably discriminating student would find the result unsatisfactory on a number of levels. Reading the material, misgivings arise early with the discovery, also in the preface, that estuarine ecosystems are to be "largely ignored" because their treatment would require a separate book. If the author could cover the much larger and more general topic of marine microbial ecology in a little over 20