Long-term plankton studies at the lower Rhine/Germany |
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| Authors: | Günther Friedrich Marlies Pohlmann |
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| Institution: | a Jakob-Hüskes-Str. 35, D47839 Krefeld, Germany (formerly: North Rhine-Westfalia State Agency of Environment (LUA), Essen, Germany)
b North Rhine-Westfalia State Agency of Nature, Environment and Consumer Protection (LANUV), Recklinghausen, Germany (formerly: North Rhine-Westfalia State Agency of Environment (LUA), Essen, Germany) |
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| Abstract: | The river Rhine has lain under considerable anthropogenic stress of its water quality for 100 years. As early as 1905 the first results of studies of the plankton in the Rhine were published. Due to the long residence time of the water a real potamoplankton can develop and at the end of the Lower Rhine it reaches its highest density. The paper consists of two parts. At first an overview is given about the history of plankton studies in the Rhine. The second part is the presentation of results from a monitoring at the Lower Rhine from 1979 to 2004.First systematic studies started at the beginning of the 20th century at the beginning of pollution. Our studies started during a phase of recreation from extreme pollution and eutrophication. Samples were taken at four stations: Bad Honnef, km 640, entrance to North Rhine-Westphalia, Düsseldorf, km 732, Duisburg, km 792 downstream large industrial effluents and big cities, Kleve-Bimmen, km 865 at the border to the Netherlands.In the 1970s nutrients were high, especially phosphate 0.65 mg PO4-P L−1 in 1979. After 1980 phosphate dropped to 0.11 mg PO4-P L−1 in 2004 (mean values of the growing season). Ammonia was reduced from about 0.52 (1979) to 0.02 (2004) mg NH4-N L−1. Nitrate remained between 3.72 (1989) and 2.26 (2004) mg NO3-N L−1 at a relatively high level. Oxygen concentrations were very low during the 1960s and 1970s, sometimes only 4 mg L−1 O2. During our studies the oxygen increased up to 9 mg L−1 O2 with a tendency to 11 mg L−1 O2 in the last years. Chlorophyll a was estimated to be between 59 (1979) and 31μg L−1 (1986) with short peaks up to 170 μg L−1 (1989). Since 1992 the mean values have varied between 30 (1993) and 21 μg L−1 (2004).The floristic phytoplankton composition is characterised by the dominance of the centric diatom Stephanodiscus hantzschii. Other diatoms like Skeletonema subsalsum, Skeletonema potamos and Asterionella formosa were regularly present in smaller quantities. The second dominant group was coccale green algae. During the 1980s they formed up to 35% of the biomass. Since the 1990s their contribution to the phytoplankton became much smaller. This change corresponds with the increase of wastewater treatment and the diminution of nutrients. All the other groups of algae were present in minor quantities. During the time of higher trophy in the 1970s and 1980s the phytoplankton formed two peaks, in recent years only one peak has developed, depending on different flow conditions during the growing season and lower trophic state in the upstream parts of the river.Excellent correspondence exists between cell number, biovolume and chlorophyll a content and the results of delayed fluorescence (DF) measurement. The trophic status in the Lower Rhine may be estimated as (moderate) eutrophic. The ecological status of the phytoplankton is good based on the requirements of the European Water Framework Directive (WFD).The zooplankton consists mainly of rotatoria and larvs of Dreissena polymorpha. Grazing on phytoplankton seems to be mainly due to the large quantities of benthic Dreissena and the newly introduced mussel Corbicula. |
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| Keywords: | Large rivers Rhine Plankton Potamoplankton Phytoplankton Ecology of large rivers Assessment |
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