Diatoms as indicators of historical water quality: A comparison of samples taken in the Wemmershoek catchment (Western Province, South Africa) in 1960 and 2008 | Zendy

WR Harding | Zendy

Open Access

Diatoms as indicators of historical water quality: A comparison of samples taken in the Wemmershoek catchment (Western Province, South Africa) in 1960 and 2008

Author(s) -

WR Harding

Publication year - 2014

Publication title -

water sa

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

SCImago Journal Rank - 0.389

H-Index - 59

eISSN - 1816-7950

pISSN - 0378-4738

DOI - 10.4314/wsa.v40i4.4

Subject(s) - diatom , water quality , index (typography) , streams , geography , drainage basin , environmental science , hydrology (agriculture) , ecology , physical geography , geology , biology , cartography , geotechnical engineering , computer network , world wide web , computer science

Historical diatom records provide a means of retrospectively determining water quality and inferring ecological condition in rivers and streams. In this study we re-sampled sites originally sampled 48 years previously. We then determined the scores for the Biological Diatom Index (BDI) and the South African Diatom Index (SADI) for each dataset. The results revealed that the present day conditions in this relatively undisturbed locality were almost identical to those reflected by the samples collected half a century before. This illustrates the value of historical diatom data for the purposes of determining antecedent water quality. Keywords : diatoms, water quality, South Africa, Biological Diatom Index, South African Diatom Index

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