Monthly Variations of Physico-Chemical Characteristics and phytoplankton species diversity as index of water quality in Euphrates River in Al-Hindiya barrage and Kifil City region of Iraq

Abstract

The present study was designed to demonstrate the seasonal variations in physico-chemical and biological characteristics of the water in the Euphrates River in Al – Hindiya region and kifil city for a period of nine months from October 2011 to June 2012. Water samples were collected on a monthly basis and analyzed for estimation of air and water temperature, pH,conductivity concentration and salinity, total dissolved solids,dissolved oxygen, alkalinity, total hardness,calcium  and magnesium hardness,nitrite, nitrate andphosphorus concentration were also recorded.A total of 167 species  belonging to 7 divisions have been identified, including Bacillariophyta (75 species, 7 centrals, 68 panels), Cyanophyta (40 species), Chlorophyta (33 species), Euglenophyta (7 species), Chrysophyta (5 species), Dinophyta (4 species) and Cryptophyta (3 species).Some algal genera dominated mostly in the study such as Nitzschia, Gomphonema, Cymbella, Synedra, Phormidium, Scendesmus and Euglena. High monthly density of Phytoplankton recorder in station 4 (2942.7 cell×10³/liter) through December and low monthly density in same station (1.4 cell×10³/liter) through January.The diversity indices popularly used, including Shannon diversity index (H’), species richness index (SR), the Evennes Index (J), and use Similarity Coefficient included (Sorensen Coefficient Cs, Jaccard Presence JC, Ellenberg Similarity Index (ISE). The correlation between the physico-chemical parameters with phytoplankton density and Taxa have been made. The results obtained are tabulated and discussed.

Key words: Phytoplanktondiversity,physico-chemical parameters, pollution,Euphrates River