Antonio Dell'Uomo

BIOLOGICAL MONITORING OF SOME APENNINE RIVERS (CENTRAL ITALY) USING THE DIATOM-BASED EUTROPHICATION / POLLUTION INDEX (EPI-D) COMPARED TO OTHER EUROPEAN DIATOM INDICES

The EPI—D diatom index was used in monitoring seven rivers situated in the central-eastern Apennine sector (Italy) in agreement with the European Directive, WFD/60/2000/EC, which encourages all member states to use available instruments in order to assess the ecological status of rivers, including algae. This index is based, above all, on the high sensitivity of diatoms to organic matter, nutrients and mineral salts dissolved in water, particularly chlorides. A total of 148 samples were examined and 209 diatom taxa were identified to the species and varieties level. The 100 species most representative of the studied watercourses typology were chosen and subjected to cluster analysis, in order to determine more information about their ecological requirements. Moreover, a comparison between the results obtained by the EPI-D and other European diatom indices was made and it indicated a very high correlation between them. The EPI-D index when compared with the chemical data and the general situation of the examined watercourses showed an excellent capacity for synthesis; therefore it can represent a useful instrument for ecological assessment of Italian rivers.

Diatomées épilithiques du fleuve Esino (Italie centrale) et leur utilisation pour l'évaluation de la qualité biologique de l'eau

Abstract In the monitoring programme of the Italian rivers which enter the Adriatic Sea, a relatively closed and small sea with high pollution risk, the assessment of the water quality of the River Esino, a typical central Apennine watercourse, was carried out. The eutrophication/pollution index (EPI-D) proposed for Italian rivers and based on the sensitivity of the diatoms to organic matter, nutrients and mineralization of the water, with particular reference to chloride, was adopted in this analysis. The good results obtained with respect to the various situations of pollution present at the eighteen stations selected along the river, as well as with regard to other diatom-based indices generally used in Europe, seem to confirm the validity of this index for monitoring Italian watercourses.

The Eutrophication/Pollution Index-Diatom based (EPI-D) and three new related indices for monitoring rivers: The case study of the river Potenza (the Marches, Italy)

Abstract The aim of this study was to test three new partial indices correlated to the already known eutrophication/pollution index-diatom global index, all based on diatoms, for assessing the biological quality of the river Potenza. This is an Apennine watercourse that crosses the Marches region and enters the Adriatic Sea. This research complies with the WFD/60/2000/EC, which imposes the combined use of biotic and abiotic aspects in evaluating the ecological status of surface waters. The three partial indices express the sensitivity of diatoms to nutrients (TI-D), organic matter (SI-D), and mineral salts (HI-D). In 13 stations selected along the main watercourse, a total of 133 diatom taxa were found. The results obtained by applying the above-mentioned indices to the diatom communities are expressed numerically on a scale of 1 to 20, where the high values mean good or excellent quality and the low values mean bad quality. All the indices employed showed inverse high correlation with the chemical parameters responsible for organic and mineral pollution and eutrophication, which increase progressively downstream. These indices performed very well in monitoring the river Potenza and showed excellent positive correlation with other diatom indices widely used in Europe.

La flora e le associazioni algali della Sorgente di Salomone (Anterselva, Bolzano). Facies estiva

Abstract The flora and algal associations of Salomons spring (Anterselva, Bolzano). Summer facies. – Salomons spring is situated in Anterselva valley (Bolzano), a characteristic valley of a glacial escavation, having a typical profile formed like a « U » and a wide peat-bog on the bottom. The source springs at 1100 mts above the sea-level from a zone of waste-layer formed by fragments of metamorphic rocks (ortogneiss). Then it gives birth to a small pool from which the water flows very slowly forming a little stream. The spring has a plentiful algal flora rich of species (66, including the varieties too) belonging to the following classes: Cyanophyceae (12), Xanthophyceae (4), Bacillariophyceae (38), Euchlorophyceae (8), Ulothricophyceae (3), Zygophyceae (1). In the spring are described the following algal associations: –Diatometum hiemalis, that forms many brown-reddish little flocks on the borders and in the anfractures of the big stones that occupy the source; –Diatometum hiemalis subass. ceratoneiet...

Influence of urbanization on riparian and algal species composition in two rivers of central Italy

Abstract The riparian flora and algal (diatom) communities in the urban stretches of the Tronto River and its tributary, the Castellano, were studied where they flow through the city of Ascoli Piceno (central Italy) in order to correlate their composition to human disturbance. The research revealed notable dynamic exchanges between the city and its rivers and revealed a vegetation mosaic of heterogeneous origin, rich in ornamental trees and shrubs, as well as nitrophilous and cultivated entities. urbanization tends to select plants with broad ecological range and wide distribution, thus causing the cosmopolitization of the riparian flora; the area studied hosts an abundance of cosmopolite species. A developed shrub layer here fosters the presence of a rich avifauna. Diatoms and hydrophytic—helophytic plants indicate excellent to good water quality in the Castellano River and only passable water quality in the Tronto. These results suggest that examination of both riparian and diatom species composition provides more precision in assessing the quality of river habitats subjected to human-induced alterations, especially in moderately extended and highly disturbed stretches, thus facilitating ecologically correct restoration projects.

Alghe di acque correnti e loro impiego come bioindicatori

Abstract Algae of running waters and their employment as bioindicators. The longitudinal distribution of the algal flora and vegetation of the running waters of Central Apennine is examined. This distribution, in addition to temperature, flow velocity, pH, dissolved oxygen and other physical and chemical parameters, seems to be strongly conditioned by the amount of organic matter coming from industries (dairies, paper-mills, sugar-refineries, tanneries, alimentary preserves industries, ecc.) and built-up areas. The system of saprobic organisms and some quantitative methods from it derived and directed to the estimation of the water quality from a biological point of view, are therefore succinctly discussed. The importance of the biological analysis, absolutely necessary to verify the effects of the pollution in the aquatic environment, is lastly underlined.

Desmidiacee della torbiera del Vedes (Trento)

Abstract Desmids of the peat-bog of Vedes (Trento, North-Italy). A list of 27 Desmids s.l. (Desmidiaceae, Closteriaceae and Mesotaeniaceae) observed in some samples coming from the peat-bog of Vedes (Trento, North-Italy) is reported. This is a high moor bog situated at an altitude of 1496 m and rich in Sphagnum species (Sphagnum medium, S. fuscum, S. robustum, S. laricinum, etc.). The most interesting Desmids found are: Actinotaenium cucurbita, A. crassiusculum, Bambusina brebissonii, Penium polymorphum, Tetmemorus brebissonii, T. laevis, Closterium intermedium, Cosmarium amoenum, Euastrum insigne, Netrium digitus and Staurastrum erostellum, the last one being a very rare species found for the first time in Italy; thirteen entities are new for the algal flora of Trentino-Alto Adige.

Hydrobiological study of a reservoir in the central Apennines (Italy)

Chemical, chemical-physical and biological procedures were employed to carry out a hydrobiological study of a reservoir in the central Apennines (Italy), designed for the supply of drinking and irrigation water, and tourist recreation facilities. Potentiometric, volumetric, spectrophotometric, and chromatographic techniques were used for the chemical-physical analyses, while the OECD method was adopted to assess the trophic level. The phosphorus and chlorophyll values evidenced the oligomesotrophic condition of the reservoir, with a dominance of the oligotrophic level. The analysis of the net-phytoplankton community showed the prevalence of the oligotrophic level, with a smaller tendency to the mesotrophic one. The dominant species were Dinobryon divergens Imhof and D. sertularia Ehrenb. among the Chrysophyceae, and Ceratium hirundinella (O.F. Mull.) Dujardin and Peridinium cinctum Ehrenb. among the Dinophyceae. However, some potentially dangerous inocula (Planktothrix agardhii (Gom.) Anagnostidis et Komarek and Microcystis aeruginosa (Kutz.) Kutzing were present, suggesting that the reservoir should be kept under accurate observation.

Contributo alle Silicoflagellate fossili del Miocene superiore dell'Italia centrale

Abstract A contribution to the fossil Silicoflagellates of the late Miocene in Central Italy. - A microscopic analysis of fourteen diatomite samples from a Messinian (late Miocene) stratigraphic series, in central-eastern Italy, has been carried out in order to verify the presence of Silicoflagellates. The skeletons of eight taxa were found in good condition and identified. The most abundant and continuous in the stratigraphic series examined are Dictyocha fibula and Distephanus speculum, also known in the present-day seas; Cannopilus sphaericus, a very rare and interesting species extinct in the Miocene, is limited to only two samples. On the basis of the Silicoflagellates found, it is possible to suggest that they lived in an open sea with 30–40‰ salinity and a temperature of 10–20°C. A very similar situation is present nowadays in the middle-western Adriatic Sea.