Responses of phytoplankton upon exposure to a mixture of acid mine drainage and high levels of nutrient pollution in Lake Loskop, South Africa.

Oberholster, Paul JMyburgh, JGAshton, PJBotha, AM2009-09-142009-09-142009Oberholster, P.J. et al. 2009. Responses of phytoplankton upon exposure to a mixture of acid mine drainage and high levels of nutrient pollution in Lake Loskop, South Africa. Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety (2009), pp 100147-6513http://hdl.handle.net/10204/3586Copyright: 2009 Published by Elsevier Inc.The relationships between water quality and the phytoplankton community within Lake Loskop were studied during the late summer and autumn of 2008 to evaluate the impacts of acid mine drainage and high nutrient concentrations. The higher concentrations of metal ions and sulphate had adverse effects on certain phytoplankton species in the inflowing riverine zone of Lake Loskop, in comparison to the reference site in the lacustrine zone of the lake, which was dominated by the larger and slower growing late summer species of Coelastrum reticulum Nageli, Straurastrumanatinum Meyen ex Ralfs and Ceratium hirundinella Muller. The high nutrient concentrations (nitrogen:17mgl-1 and orthophosphate: 0.7mgl-1) during the mid-summer peak of the rainy season were associated with the development of a bloom of the cyanobacterium Microcystis. Water quality data associated with the development of the Microcystis bloom suggest that the aquatic system of Lake Loskop has now entered an alternate, hyper trophic regime. This change over shadowed the adverse effects of high concentrations of heavy metal ions and low pH. Through out this study, the reference site in the lacustrine zone o fLake Loskop had lower concentrations of metal ions and sulphate, and higher pH values. The response of phytoplankton bioassays on integrated water samples from the different sampling sites did provide potential answers to the reasons for the absence of the algal group Chlorophyceae in the phytoplankton community structure in the riverine zone of the lakeenPhytoplankton populationsCyanobacteriaPhytoplankton bioassayChlorophyll concentrationsMetal ionsLake LoskopNutrient pollutionAcid mine drainageEcotoxicologyEnvironmental safetyResponses of phytoplankton upon exposure to a mixture of acid mine drainage and high levels of nutrient pollution in Lake Loskop, South Africa.ArticleOberholster, P. J., Myburgh, J., Ashton, P., & Botha, A. (2009). Responses of phytoplankton upon exposure to a mixture of acid mine drainage and high levels of nutrient pollution in Lake Loskop, South Africa. http://hdl.handle.net/10204/3586Oberholster, Paul J, JG Myburgh, PJ Ashton, and AM Botha "Responses of phytoplankton upon exposure to a mixture of acid mine drainage and high levels of nutrient pollution in Lake Loskop, South Africa." (2009) http://hdl.handle.net/10204/3586Oberholster PJ, Myburgh J, Ashton P, Botha A. Responses of phytoplankton upon exposure to a mixture of acid mine drainage and high levels of nutrient pollution in Lake Loskop, South Africa. 2009; http://hdl.handle.net/10204/3586.TY - Article AU - Oberholster, Paul J AU - Myburgh, JG AU - Ashton, PJ AU - Botha, AM AB - The relationships between water quality and the phytoplankton community within Lake Loskop were studied during the late summer and autumn of 2008 to evaluate the impacts of acid mine drainage and high nutrient concentrations. The higher concentrations of metal ions and sulphate had adverse effects on certain phytoplankton species in the inflowing riverine zone of Lake Loskop, in comparison to the reference site in the lacustrine zone of the lake, which was dominated by the larger and slower growing late summer species of Coelastrum reticulum Nageli, Straurastrumanatinum Meyen ex Ralfs and Ceratium hirundinella Muller. The high nutrient concentrations (nitrogen:17mgl-1 and orthophosphate: 0.7mgl-1) during the mid-summer peak of the rainy season were associated with the development of a bloom of the cyanobacterium Microcystis. Water quality data associated with the development of the Microcystis bloom suggest that the aquatic system of Lake Loskop has now entered an alternate, hyper trophic regime. This change over shadowed the adverse effects of high concentrations of heavy metal ions and low pH. Through out this study, the reference site in the lacustrine zone o fLake Loskop had lower concentrations of metal ions and sulphate, and higher pH values. The response of phytoplankton bioassays on integrated water samples from the different sampling sites did provide potential answers to the reasons for the absence of the algal group Chlorophyceae in the phytoplankton community structure in the riverine zone of the lake DA - 2009 DB - ResearchSpace DP - CSIR KW - Phytoplankton populations KW - Cyanobacteria KW - Phytoplankton bioassay KW - Chlorophyll concentrations KW - Metal ions KW - Lake Loskop KW - Nutrient pollution KW - Acid mine drainage KW - Ecotoxicology KW - Environmental safety LK - https://researchspace.csir.co.za PY - 2009 SM - 0147-6513 T1 - Responses of phytoplankton upon exposure to a mixture of acid mine drainage and high levels of nutrient pollution in Lake Loskop, South Africa TI - Responses of phytoplankton upon exposure to a mixture of acid mine drainage and high levels of nutrient pollution in Lake Loskop, South Africa UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10204/3586 ER -