Jarmila Makovinska1, Corina de Hoogh2

Measurement of the Phytobenthos
Biomass in the Danube and
its Tributaries
Joint Danube Survey 2 (2007)
Jarmila Makovinska1, Corina de Hoogh2
1
Water Research Institute, Slovak Republic, 2 Kiwa Water Research, The Netherland
General objectives of JDS2
• Obtain homogenous database of results for the
Danube (based on sampling, laboratory analysis of
specific parameters and biological quality elements)
• Screening priority pollutants and other relevant
substances (WFD)
• Microbiological analysis
• Create forum for participation of Danubian countries
on sampling and comparison of results
• Training and inceasing of experiences of Danubian
experts
• Public participation
Specific objectives of JDS2
•
•
•
•
Comparing of the results of JDS 2 and JDS1
Biological validation of Danube typology
Ecological assessment of the Danube (WFD)
Evaluation and confirmation of pressures and
measures from Roof Report 2004
• Contribution to the intercalibration process of large
rivers
• General overview of hydromophology of the Danube
• Analysis of radioisotops
Joint Danube Survey 2
The Danube basin is the most international river basin in the world shared
by 19 countries
Joint Danube Survey 2 – investigated stretch
Upper Danube
Middle Danube
96 sites along a 2,600 km
stretch of the Danube
Black Sea
Joint Danube Survey 2
Technical realisation:
• Icebreaker Széchenyi (HU)
• Laboratory Agus (SR)
• Fish boat Vienna 115 (SK)
Joint Danube Survey 2 – core team
Joint Danube Survey 2 – core team
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•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Phytoplankton (Martin Dokulil, Kristina Kaiblinger)
Phytobentos (Jarmila Makovinská)
Water macrophytes (Brigitte Schmidt)
Benthic invertebrates (Patrick Leitner, Wolfram Graf, Gabriel
Chiriac, Momir Paunovic, Béla Csanyi)
Fish (Christian Wiesner, Grigore Davideanu, Nikolaus Schotzko,
Gábor Guti, Jaroslav Cerný )
Hydromorfology (Wolfgang Kraier)
Chemistry (Carmen Hamchevici, Mary Craciun, Hana
Hudcová)
Microbiology (Branko Velimirov, Alexander Kirschner)
Airlift (Richard Niederreiter, Stefan Steiner)
Joint Danube Survey 2 - BQE
Biological quality elements (WFD)
• Phytoplankton (diversity, biomass-chl-a)
• Phytobentos (diversity, biomass-chl-a)
• Water macrophytes (diverity, Kohler method)
• Benthic invertebrates (diversity, biomass)
• Fish (diversity, biomass, age structure)
Joint Danube Survey 2 – other paremeters
•
•
•
•
•
Physico-chemical, nutrients, silicates....
Specific pollutants (PP, RS)
Heavy metals
Radioisotops (Cs , Sr, Ra, Rn, K, U, Pb, N, O)
Microbiological det. (E. coli, fecal coli,
enterococci, DNA analysis, abundancy and
biomass, secondary bacterial production)
• Ecotoxicity of sediments
• Hydromorphology (Danube)
Phytobenthos
• Living phytobenthos excl. diatoms
• Benthic diatoms
• Phytobenthos biomass (chlorophyll-a)
Phytobenthos
Sampling:
EN 13946: Water quality. Guidance standard
for the routine sampling and pre-treatment of
benthic diatoms from rivers
CEN/TC 230 N 0540: Water quality. Guidance
standard for the surveying, sampling and
laboratory analysis of phytobenthos in
shallow running water
Fluorescence measurements –
chlorophyll-a
(using the Benthofluor® fluorometer
(bbe Moldaenke, Kiel, Germany)
Benthofluor® fluorometer
bbe Moldaenke, Kiel, Germany
Phytobenthos - sampling
• Epilithon (5 boulders or more pebbles)
• Epiphyton (where epilithon was absent)
• First of all - measurement of chlorophyll-a
(five areas were measured, each measurement was done 3 - 4 times)
• Area of minimum 10 cm2 was brushed from
each stone
• Samples:
– living phytobenthos (microscopy)
– preserved benthic diatom
(EN 14407 )
Phytobenthos biomass
Chlorophyll_a of phytobenthos in the Danube-left side ( green collums) and tributaries (blue collums)
(fluorescency measurements) (mg.cm )
2
2,500
2,000
1,500
1,000
0,500
0,000
JD S_68L
JD S_67L
JD S_65L
JD S_63L
JD S_62L
JD S_61L
JD S_60L
JD S_59L
JD S_58L
JD S_57L
JD S_56
JD S_52 L
JD S_51
JD S_50 L
JD S_49
JD S_48 L
JD S_47 L
JD S_46 L
JD S_45 L
JD S_44 L
JD S_43 L
JD S_42
JD S_41 L
JD S_40 L
JD S_39 L
JD S_38 L
JD S_37
JD S_36 L
JD S_35 L
JD S_34
JD S_33L
JD S_32L
JD S_31
JD S_30L
JD S_29L
JD S_27L
JD S_26L
JD S_25
JD S_24
JD S_23L
JD S_22 L
JD S_21
JD S_20 L
JD S_18 L
JD S_17
JD S_16 L
JD S_15
JD S_14 L
JD S_13 L
JD S2_7 L
JD S2_5 L
JD S2_4 L
JD S2_3 L
JD S2_2 L
JD S2_1
Phytobenthos biomass
JDS_95R
JDS_86R
JDS_85R
JDS_80R
JDS_79R
JDS_77R
JDS_76R
JDS_75R
JDS_73R
JDS_67R
JDS_65R
JDS_64R
JDS_63R
JDS_62R
JDS_61R
JDS_60R
JDS_59R
JDS_58R
JDS_56
JDS_54R
JDS_52R
JDS_51
JDS_50R
JDS_49
JDS_48R
JDS_47R
JDS_46R
JDS_45R
JDS_44R
JDS_43R
JDS_42
JDS_41R
JDS_40R
JDS_39R
JDS_38R
JDS_37
JDS_36R
JDS_35R
JDS_34
JDS_33R
JDS_32R
JDS_31
JDS_30R
JDS_29R
JDS_28R
JDS_26R
JDS_23R
JDS_22R
JDS_20R
JDS_18R
JDS_17
JDS_16R
JDS_14R
JDS_13R
JDS2_7R
JDS2_6R
JDS2_5R
JDS2_4R
JDS2_3R
JDS2_2R
JDS2_1
0,000
Chlorophyll-a of phytobenthos in the Danube-right side (green collums) and tributaries (blue collums)
(fluorescence measurement (mg.cm )
2
2,500
2,000
1,500
1,000
0,500
Phytobenthos biomass
2,5
2,5
Phytobenthos total biomass (µg/cm^2)
Phytobenthos total biomass (µg/cm^2)
2,0
1,5
1,0
,5
0,0
1,5
1,0
,5
Lef t bank
0,0
Right bank
N=
-,5
N=
60
2,0
11
45
10
Upper Danube Middle Danube Low er Danube
8
8
29
29
Upper Danube
1
1
Low er Danube
Middle Danube
Total phytobenthos biomass –chlo-a and differences between left and right bank
in the Upper, Middle and Lower Danube
Phytobenthos (% CYA:CHLO:DIAT:OTHER)
JD S02
JD S03
JD S04
JD S05
JD S06
JD S07
JD S08
JD S09
JD S10
JD S11
JD S12
JD S13
JD S14
JD S15
JD S16
JD S17
JD S18
JD S20
JD S21
JD S22
JD S23
JD S24
JD S25
JD S26
JD S27
JD S28
JD S29
JD S30
JD S31
JD S32
JD S33
JD S34
JD S35
JD S36
JD S37
JD S38
JD S39
JD S40
JD S41
JD S42
JD S43
JD S44
JD S45
JD S46
JD S47
JD S48
JD S49
JD S50
JD S51
JD S52
JD S53
JD S54
JD S55
JD S56
JD S57
JD S58
JD S59
JD S60
JD S61
JD S62
JD S63
JD S64
JD S65
JD S67
JD S68
JD S69
JD S70
JD S73
JD S75
JD S76
JD S77
JD S79
JD S80
JD S82
JD S83
JD S85
JD S86
JD S87
JD S89
JD S92
JD S93
JD S94
JD S95
Measured by benthofluor
Category
JD S01
cy anobacteria
diat oms
green algae
other
Phytobenthos (% CYA:CHLO:DIAT:OTHER)
Estimation of relative abundance of phytobenthos groups
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
S
JD 9
S1
JD 1
S1
JD 3
S1
JD 5
S1
JD 7
S1
JD 9
S2
JD 1
S2
JD 3
S2
JD 5
S2
JD 7
S2
JD 9
S3
JD 1
S3
JD 3
S3
JD 5
S3
JD 7
S3
JD 9
S4
JD 1
S4
JD 3
S4
JD 5
S4
JD 7
S4
JD 9
S5
JD 1
S5
JD 3
S5
JD 5
S5
JD 7
S5
JD 9
S6
JD 1
S6
JD 3
S6
JD 5
S6
JD 7
S6
JD 9
S7
JD 1
S7
JD 3
S7
JD 5
S7
JD 7
S7
JD 9
S8
JD 1
S8
JD 3
S8
JD 5
S8
JD 7
S8
JD 9
S9
JD 1
S9
JD 3
S9
5
S7
JD
S5
JD
S3
JD
JD
JD
S1
0%
Cyanophyta
Chlorophyta
Bacillariophyceae
Other
Ratio of the individual of cyanobacteria, diatoms and green algae in
the living samples for each sampling site, the ‘other’ group includes
Rhodophytes (JDS11) and bacteria (JDS32) –
(Sampling + microscopy)
Biomass in living samples
Biomass (%)
Green algae
Cyanobacteria
Diatoms
Sampling + microscopy
(estimation)
34
50
16
Fluorometry
(measurement)
30
68
2
• Match: ~ 30%
• Reasons:
– Fluorometry overestimates cyanobacteria
– Sampling + microscopy overestimates diatoms
Phytobenthos biomass
2.0
1.8
1.6
1.4
Chl.A
1.2
1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
JDS 1
JDS 7-10
JDS 20-36
JDS 59-62
JDS 87-92
JDS 2-5
JDS 11-19
JDS 38-58
JDS 63-86
JDS 92-96
Danube River Types
Median
25%-75%
5%-95%
Outliers
Species diversity
· Based on results of JDS2 the species
diversity of the phytobenthos was high, in
total, 438 taxa were identified
• 2 new species were found
• Many first records for e.g. Slovak stretch
of the Danube
Phytobenthos
indication of ecological status
For the assessment of the indication of the
ecological status
we used the diatom-based Pollution
Sensitivity Index (IPS) in combination with
reference values and class boundaries
adopted in the Slovak classification system
Benthofluor
• Very good tool for measuring the
phytoplankton biomass in the field
• Additional phytobenthos metric
(quantitative) (metrics used are less
confidence e.g in case of large rivers)
• It needs many more results (from the
whole gradient of pollution) for preparation
of classification scheme
Thank you for attention