Monitoring Impacts of Human Activities on Bouskoura Stream (Periurban of Casablanca, Morocco): 3. Bio-Ecology of Epilithic Diatoms (First Results)

Abstract

The epilithic diatoms of a periurban watercourse of Casablanca city (Bouskoura stream) were studied from samples taken in 8 stations (distributed in the upstream-downstream direction) for two years (August 2015-July 2017). The recorded diatomic flora consists of 54 species corresponding to 27 genera and belonging to 5 main families: Monoraphids, Naviculaceae, Nitzschiaceae, Araphids and Surirellaceae. This flora is predominantly alkaliphile and characterizes ?-mesosaprobe to polysaprobes and eutrophic to hypereutrophic media. Responses assemblage to natural and anthropogenic disturbances were analyzed. Diatom assemblages structure analysis shows that downstream of this watercourse, where pollution is intense, the abundances of pollosensitive taxa such as Achnanthes minutissima, Cymbella affinis are low or even nulls and we are witnessing the appearance of polysaprobe forms such as Nitzschia palea, Nitzschia capitellata and Nitzschia frustulum that tolerate rich environments in organic matter or highly polluted. Spatial variation in species diversity could not highlight changes in water quality at the prospected sites; on the other hand, the change in the percentage of pollutant-tolerant taxa (PTV) revealed the full extent of the alteration due to gradual nutrient and organic matter inputs into the Bouskoura watercourse. In addition, the correlation obtained between this index and the organic pollution index (IPO) is highly significant. Principal component analysis (PCA) highlighted taxonomic differences between stations. The results obtained in this work have emphasized the importance of diatoms as a bioindicator of the health status of this periurban watercourse.

Keywords

• water quality, pollution, epilithic diatoms, bio-ecology