New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research abstracts

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Development of a biotic index using the correlation of protozoan communities with chemical water quality

Jian-Guo Jiang

College of Food and Bioengineering
South China University of Technology
Guangzhou 510640
People’s Republic of China
email: johnjg@scut.edu.cn

Yun-Fen Shen

Institute of Hydrobiology
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Wuhan, 430072
People’s Republic of China

Abstract  A method of comparing data on protozoan communities with chemical parameters is presented. Using data from an extensive survey of the River Hanjiang in China, each species of protozoa has been given a species pollution value (SPV) related to its occurrence in waters with different degrees of pollution. A comprehensive chemical index is calculated for each site based on water quality standards for eight chemical parameters. The index is calculated from the relationship between the observed levels of each chemical at a site compared with the limits of the drinking water quality standards of the People’s Republic of China. From the distribution of each species at sites with differing chemical index values, a SPV is calculated. The SPV for each species is obtained by summing the logarithmic value of 10 times the chemical pollution divided by the number of chemical parameters, then divided by the stations where the species occurs. The community pollution value (CPV), which is the average SPVs of all protozoa at a site, is used to evaluate water quality. The CPV has been shown to have a close correlation with the degree of water pollution. It is not necessary for all the protozoa in a sample to have SPVs listed in this paper, provided at least 56% of the protozoa in a sample have an SPV value, the CPV will be applicable.

Keywords  biotic index; water pollution; correlation analysis; SPV; CPV

M02027 Received 11 April 2002; accepted 25 March 2003; Online publication date 31 October 2003
New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 2003, Vol. 37: 777-792
0028-8330/03/3704-0777 $7.00 © The Royal Society of New Zealand 2003

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