Abstract

Assessment of Phytoplankton Community as a Bio Indicator of Organic Pollution inthe Drainage System of the Edku Lagoon, Egypt.

The phytoplankton community structure, as well as its seasonal variation, was analyzed and dis-cussed in the four drains inflow to the Edku Lagoon over 7 years, from summer 2009 to winter 2016. Palmer’s andShannon-Weaver biotic indices were used in the assessment of the water quality of the different drains. The recog-nized phytoplankton species were 238 comprising 86 genera and 5 groups: 97 Bacillariophyceae, which formed 40.8% by number of the total phytoplankton standing crop, 74 Chlorophyceae (44.92%), 34 Cyanophyceae (4.77%), 23 Euglenophyceae (9.38%) and 10 Dinophyceae (0.13%). The dominant recorded phytoplankton genera were Cyclotella, Melosira, Navicula, Ankistrodesmus, Chlorella, Scenedesmus and Euglena. The standing crop attained the highest counts at El-Khairy Drain (472 unit /ml), while the lowest was at El--Bousily Drain (80 unit /ml). The Shannon-Weaver diversity (H′) reflects an inverse relationship to the degree of dominance of the main species. It ranged from a minimal of 0.57 at Edku Drain and the highest one (3.65) at El-Khairy Drain. Species evenness fluc-tuated between 0.248 (Edku Drain) and 0.924 (El-Khairy Drain). The result showed that El-Khairy Drain has be-tween moderate pollution and probable high organic pollution, but the other sites have lack organic pollution. The present research is attempting to examine the potential use ofthe phytoplankton species as a bio indicator of organic pollution.

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