Plants, Mosses, Charophytes, Protozoan, and Bacteria Water Quality Indicators for Assessment of Organic Pollution and Trophic Status of Continental Water Bodies

This paper presents data compilation for indicator species of organic pollution and trophic state of continental waters. Information was collected from research papers, monographs, electronic resources, and our research. Altogether 316 species of higher plants, plants, mosses, charophytes, protozoan, and bacteria from 11 taxonomical phyla are represented with ecological preferences for saprobity indicators with saprobity index (S) and indicators of trophic state. This comprehensive data can be used for the purpose of aquatic ecosystem assessment and monitoring of water quality based on bioindication methods.

New finding of Vaucheria aversa Hassall (Ochrophyta, Xanthophyceae) in Ukraine

Vaucheria aversa (Xanthophyta) was recorded for the first time in Ukraine in Sula River, Hydrological Reserve «Artopolot», Poltava Region. It was found in benthos in spring (May 2020) in silty-sandy soil in shallow water. The material was collected and processed according to a common methodology. Sterile samples before the appearance of the gametengians were kept in natural water in petri dishes in well-lit places. This method of «coarse culture», in most cases, allowed to get gametangia within two weeks. The species identification was done with fertile filaments only. 4% formaldehyde solution was used for material fixation. Taxonomic identification of samples was done using a comparative and morphological methods, which includes analysis of morphological variability and verification of the consistency of the studied material with the diagnosis. Thalli of V. aversa are direct, branched, bisexual, 80–90 μm wide. Antheridia are cylindrical, tubular shape, pressed to the filament or slightly raised above it, 119–130 × 41–43 μm. Oogonia erect, sessile, ovoid to subspherical, sometimes placed in pairs, with a curved beak at the front, 190–230 × 140–163 μm. According to morphological characteristics this species is similar to another one from section Tubligerae Walz – V. fontinalis (Linnaeus) T.A. Christensen. Their distinctive and common features are as follows. Filaments of V. fontinalis are narrower (up to 75 μm) than V. aversa (up to 131 μm). Both species are characterized by oogonia grouped together in a row. Antheridia present in quantity 1 or 2 on both sides of oogonia. But the species are very different in size and shape of oogonia: in V. aversa they are sessile, located one at a time or less often two, extended near the base, sharply narrowed at the apex. The beak is directed straight or obliquely up, bent to the side of the oogonia body. In V. fontinalis oogonia are placed in one row, most often in the amount of 1-6, the beak tapers gradually. Anteridia are cylindrical, on short pedicel. V. aversa grew as a part of polyspecies complex of green algae together with representatives of such genera as Cladophora Kützing, Spirogyra Link and Mougeotia C. Agardh. V. aversa is widely distributed in continental water bodies of Europe, Asia and North America, Australia and New Zealand, but is firstly recorded in Ukraine.

Biological, Chemical, and Ecotoxicological Assessments Using Benthos Provide Different and Complementary Measures of Lake Ecological Status

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) aims to monitor continental water bodies in Europe to achieve good ecological status. Indexes based on biological quality elements (BQEs), ecotoxicological tests, and chemical characterizations are commonly used with standardized protocols to assess sediment quality and the associated risks. Here, we compare the results of quality assessment of benthic macroinvertebrates as BQEs as required by the WFD with the results of ecotoxicological tests and assessment of selected persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in sediments of the same eight water bodies in Italy. The aim was to verify if the assessment of quality through macroinvertebrates through POPs analyses and ecotoxicological tools can yield comparable, overlapping, or complementary results. We used the Benthic Quality Index (BQIES) for macroinvertebrates (two different applications), legacy POPs (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane and metabolites (DDTs) and polychlorinated-biphenyls (PCBs)), and the emergence ratio (ER) and development rate (DR) for ecotoxicology. The results showed that the two indices within each approach were highly correlated, but between approaches, each result can lead to a completely different scenario, with rather different results of the assessment of ecosystem quality. The most striking result was that very few significant correlations existed between sediment quality assessment through macroinvertebrates and the risk assessment through analyses of micropollutants and ecotoxicological tests. The highest absolute r-value (0.81) was for the correlation between the BQIESbottom index and PCBs for micropollutants, whereas all other pairwise comparisons between indices had r-values ranging between 0.07 and 0.53. Our analysis calls for a caveat in the blind application of one or only a few indices of water/sediment quality, as the results of a single index may not represent the complexity of a freshwater ecosystem.

AUTOMATIC CLASSIFICATION OF BRIDGES AND CONTINENTAL WATER BODIES FROM 3D POINT CLOUDS (AERIAL LIDAR)

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> The use of algorithms for automatic classification of aerial laser scanner 3D Point Clouds is the main process that improves its thematic quality. The main objectives of using 3D Point Clouds are the description of the surface and the detection of objects. The aim of this proposal for bridge and water detection algorithms is to increase the range and accuracy of the classification parameters of these products obtained with LiDAR technologies. With this methodology, the Digital Elevation Models (DEM) quality is improved and they are obtained by automated models of bridges and hydrography.</p><p>This paper describes a methodology to detect and classify bridges and continental water bodies in points using the properties of LiDAR technology such as radiometric and geometric variables implementing indexes like NDVI, NDWI or NFC. In addition, the Network of Roads and Hydrographic models in Spain are used to reduce the area of interest and errors. Part of the province of Teruel (Spain) has been used as study area.</p>

The Strud crustacean fauna (Late Devonian, Belgium): updated review and palaeoecology of an early continental ecosystem

Arthropods are the first animals to colonize land habitats, with myriapods and arachnids having done so at least by the Silurian. Much later several lineages of Pancrustacea (hexapods and the paraphyletic crustaceans) also venture onto land: the hexapods by the Early Devonian, and later at least four other groups of pancrustaceans, namely isopods, amphipods, ostracods and decapods, which most generally colonised the continental water bodies. All faced a series of challenges, in particular gas exchange, desiccation, reproduction, osmoregulation and exposure to ultraviolet radiation, resulting in many morphological, physiological and ecological adaptations. Nonetheless, whether they reached land via salt or freshwater remains poorly documented, mainly because relevant localities are few. The Famennian (Late Devonian) Strud locality in Belgium provided an exceptional source of information on early aquatic continental ecosystems and their plant, vertebrate and arthropod colonizers at a crucial step in the terrestrialization process. Here, we review and update its crustacean fauna, which inhabited floodplain and temporary pool waters. New anatomical details of the notostracan Strudops goldenbergi Lagebro et al., 2015, as well as a new genus and species of spinicaudatan, are described. We also discuss the ecology of this unique, early continental ecosystem and its insights into the terrestrialization process.

The Strud crustacean fauna (Late Devonian, Belgium): updated review and palaeoecology of an early continental ecosystem

ABSTRACTArthropods were the first known animals to colonise land habitats, with myriapods and arachnids having done so at least by the Silurian. Much later, several lineages of Pancrustacea (hexapods and the paraphyletic crustaceans) also ventured onto land; the hexapods by the Early Devonian, and later at least four other groups of crustaceans, namely isopods, amphipods, ostracods and decapods, most of which generally colonised the continental water bodies. All faced a series of challenges (in particular: gas exchange; desiccation; reproduction; osmoregulation; and exposure to ultraviolet radiation), resulting in many morphological, physiological and ecological adaptations. Nonetheless, whether they reached land via saltwater or freshwater remains poorly documented, mainly because relevant localities are few. The Famennian (Late Devonian) Strud locality in Belgium provided an exceptional source of information on early aquatic continental ecosystems and their plant, vertebrate and arthropod colonisers at a crucial step in the terrestrialisation process. Here, we review and update its crustacean fauna, which inhabited floodplain and temporary pool waters. New anatomical details of the notostracanStrudops goldenbergiLagebroet al., 2015, as well as a new genus and species of spinicaudatan, are described. We also discuss the ecology of this unique, early continental ecosystem and the insights it gives into the terrestrialisation process.