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Ratio of abundances of ciliates behavioral groups as an indicator of the treated wastewater impact on rivers.

Roman BabkoVolodymyr PliashechnykJacek ZaburkoYaroslav DankoTatiana KuzminaJoanna CzarnotaJoanna Szulżyk-CieplakGrzegorz Łagód
Published in: PloS one (2022)
A method for assessing the degree of impact of wastewater treatment plant discharge on receiving rivers was proposed, based on the structural indicators of the population of ciliated protozoa. It was shown that the ratio of attached, crawling and free-swimming forms in bottom sediments changes under the influence of discharge. In the points subject to organic pollution, the share of attached filter-feeding bacteriovorous ciliates increases in the assemblage of ciliated protozoa. The proposed Attached Form Index (AFI) takes this ratio into account. The use of AFI makes it possible to assess the restructuring of the assemblage of ciliated protozoa under the influence of point sources of pollution, to establish a zone of negative influence of runoff, to assess the degree of restoration of the aquatic ecosystem, as the influence of the pollution source weakened.
Keyphrases
  • wastewater treatment
  • heavy metals
  • risk assessment
  • human health
  • particulate matter
  • health risk assessment
  • climate change
  • antibiotic resistance genes
  • drinking water
  • microbial community