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Effects of physical-chemical parameters on the EPT assemblages in surface waters in Pannonian Ecoregion

In this work, we investigated the relationship between five biological metrics and the physical- chemical parameters used in water quality assessment in watercourses in the Pannonian ecoregion (ER 11). Applied biological metrics: number of taxa of: Ephereroptera (E), Plecoptera (P) and Trichoptera (T), the number of EPT taxa (EPT) and the proportion of EPT specimens (%EPT) within the macroinvertebrate sample are usually connected with good water quality since they mostly refer to sensitive macroinvertebrate taxa. Data used in this study originate from the national monitoring program of surface water quality within the 8-year period (2010-2017). In total, 332 samples of macroinvertebrates were analyzed from 239 sampling stations. All biological samples were collected according to AQEM sampling protocol. The physical- chemical parameters (water temperature, pH, conductivity, total suspended solids (TSS), alkalinity, harness, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, total nitrogen, inorganic nitrogen, organic nitrogen, orthophosphate and total phosphorous) were analyzed according to standard analytical methods for assessment of surface water quality (ISO norms), in the year when samples of macroinvertebrates were collected. Using Spearman correlation coefficient, with p<0, 05, statistical analysis showed significant negative correlation between biological metrics and nutrients in water (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, total nitrogen, inorganic and organic nitrogen, orthophosphate and total phosphorus). The best results was obtained between E, P, T, EPT, %EPT and orthophosphate (-0, 245, -0, 309, -0, 230, -0, 288, -0, 168 respectively). Also, total nitrogen significantly correlated with E and %EPT (-0, 293, -0, 193 respectively), while no significant correlation with nitrates have been found during this investigation. Applied statistical calculation, highlights %EPT as the best biological metric responding to nutrient concentration.

Ephemeroptera ; Plecoptera ; Trichoptera ; nutrients ; water quality

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