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Evaluation of ecological risk analysis for benthic macroinvertebrates in paddy fields in the Meriç–Ergene River Basin (Turkish Thrace)

Gazel Burcu Aydın
Gazel Burcu Aydın
 and 
Belgin Çamur-Elipek
Belgin Çamur-Elipek
   | Jul 07, 2022
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Article Category: Original research paper
Published Online: Jul 07, 2022
Page range: 212 - 223
Received: Feb 04, 2022
Accepted: May 10, 2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.26881/oandhs-2022.2.09
© 2022 Gazel Burcu Aydin et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Figure 1

Sampling locations according to irrigation water source (M1, M2 – Meriç River; A1, A2 – Artesian water; E1, E2 – Ergene River; ME1, ME2 – mixed water of the Meriç and Ergene rivers)
Sampling locations according to irrigation water source (M1, M2 – Meriç River; A1, A2 – Artesian water; E1, E2 – Ergene River; ME1, ME2 – mixed water of the Meriç and Ergene rivers)

Figure 2

a – Dendrogram of similarity of the sampling locations for benthic macroinvertebrates; b – Dendrogram of similarity of the sampling seasons for benthic macroinvertebrates
a – Dendrogram of similarity of the sampling locations for benthic macroinvertebrates; b – Dendrogram of similarity of the sampling seasons for benthic macroinvertebrates

Figure 3

Dendrogram of similarity of the seasons for physicochemical properties
Dendrogram of similarity of the seasons for physicochemical properties

Figure 4

Correspondence analysis of the sampling locations for benthic macroinvertebrates
Correspondence analysis of the sampling locations for benthic macroinvertebrates

Figure 5

Potential ecological risk index graph of the sampling locations (PERI)
Potential ecological risk index graph of the sampling locations (PERI)

Figure 6

Multinomial biological risk index graph for the sampling locations (BRI)
Multinomial biological risk index graph for the sampling locations (BRI)

Number of benthic macroinvertebrate individuals per m2 in different seasons

  Benthic macroinvertebrates Seasons
Spring Summer Autumn Average
Oligochaeta GROUP Henlea perpusilla 133 0 0 44
Lumbriculus variegatus 0 0 178 59
Stylodrilus heringianus 0 211 33 82
Eiseniella tetraedra 6 11 28 15
Aulophorus furcatus 0 0 28 9
Chaetogaster limnaei 0 0 100 33
Dero digitata 0 28 0 9
Pristina longiseta 0 11 22 11
Limnodrilus hoffmeisteri 0 694 150 281
Limnodrilus sp. 0 0 283 95
Tubifex tubifex 0 78 211 97
Oligochaeta (unidentified) 56 0 400 152
Chironomidae GROUP Tanypus punctipennis 0 0 56 18
Halocladius fucicola 0 156 0 52
Chironomus plumosus 161 1983 44 729
Chironomus tentans 0 4178 0 1393
Cladotanytarsus defectus 0 83 22 35
Kiefferulus tendipediformis 0 6 0 2
Polypedilum convictum 0 0 428 143
Polypedilum nubifer 44 2361 2711 1706
Cladotanytarsus mancus 28 0 0 9
Virgatanytarsus arduennensis 0 150 0 50
Chironomidae (unidentified) 0 183 0 61
Other Insecta GROUP Cloeon dipterum 11 33 222 89
Ischnura elegans 0 6 28 11
Orthetrum albistylum 0 0 33 11
Sigara lateralis 11 11 11 11
Sigara striata 0 0 83 27
Corixidae (nymph) 0 206 0 69
Hydroglyphus geminus 0 267 4711 1659
Peltodytes caesus 72 0 0 24
Berosus spinosus 17 0 0 6
Coleoptera ( larvae) 100 117 33 83
Ceratopogonidae 6 0 11 6
Culicidae 0 6 356 120
Ephydridae 0 44 22 22
Stratiomyidae 0 33 44 26
Other Taxa GROUP Nematoda 567 1411 161 713
Erpobdella octoculata 0 22 11 11
Physella acuta 61 306 178 182
Gyraulus piscinarum 0 28 11 13
Planorbis carinatus 0 189 0 63
Planorbis sp. 111 33 67 70
Ostracoda 122 1378 0 500
Hydrachnidae 0 61 6 22
Diplostraca 0 0 383 128
Gammarus komareki 0 6 0 2
Total Oligochaeta 195 1033 1433 887
Total Chironomidae 233 9100 3261 4198
Total Other Insecta 217 723 5554 2164
Total Other Taxa 861 3434 817 1704
Total 1506 14290 11065 8953
Number of taxa 16 32 33 47

Hypothesis effect matrix and relative values

Pressure elements Criteria
Oligochaeta Chironomidae Other Insecta Other taxa
Heavy metals (S1) 2 2 1 1
Nutrients (S2) 2 1 1 1
Other physicochemical parameters (S3) 1 1 1 1
Pesticides (S4) 3 3 2 1

The scale used to represent the risk factors of Eir, Ri, ERM-Qi and mERM-Q (Long et al. 2005)

Potential Ecological Risk Assessment Biological Risk Assessment
Eir Potential ecological risk for monomial factors RI Potential ecological risk for multinomial factors ERM-Qi and mERM-Q Biological toxicity risk for monomial and multinomial factors
< 40 low ecological risk < 95 low ecological risk < 0.1 low priority side
40–80 moderate ecological risk 95–190 moderate ecological risk 0.1–0.5 medium-low priority side
80–160 considerable ecological risk 190–380 considerable ecological risk 0.5–1.5 high-medium priority side
160–320 high ecological risk > 380 very high ecological risk > 1.5 high priority side
> 320 very high ecological risk

Abundance of benthic macroinvertebrate species per m2 at the sampling locations (Ave – average, Abd – abundance, TA – total abundance)

Macroinvertebrates Sampling locations
A M E ME ME Ave Abd TA
Oligochaeta GROUP Henlea perpusilla 66 14 0 96 44 5 0.5
Lumbriculus variegatus 0 0 0 236 59 6.7 0.7
Stylodrilus heringianus 0 246 0 82 82 9.2 0.9
Eiseniella tetraedra 44 0 0 14 15 1.6 0.2
Aulophorus furcatus 36 0 0 0 9 1 0.1
Chaetogaster limnaei 134 0 0 0 34 3.8 0.4
Dero digitata 38 0 0 0 9 1.1 0.1
Pristina longiseta 14 0 0 30 11 1.2 0.1
Limnodrilus hoffmeisteri 1104 22 0 0 281 31.8 3.1
Limnodrilus sp. 378 0 0 0 94 10.7 1.1
Tubifex tubifex 0 104 0 282 96 10.9 1.1
Oligochaeta (unidentified) 548 0 0 58 152 17.1 1.7
Chironomidae GROUP Tanypus punctipennis 0 0 74 0 19 0.4 0.2
Halocladius fucicola 0 208 0 0 52 1.2 0.6
Chironomus plumosus 60 408 296 2154 730 17.4 8.1
Chironomus tentans 0 0 5570 0 1393 33.2 15.6
Cryptochironomus defectus 0 110 0 30 35 0.8 0.4
Kiefferulus tendipediformis 0 6 0 0 2 0.1 0.1
Polypedilum convictum 0 0 572 0 143 3.4 1.6
Polypedilum nubifer 192 1926 4170 534 1705 40.6 19.1
Cladotanytarsus mancus 0 38 0 0 9 0.2 0.1
Virgatanytarsus arduennensis 90 112 0 0 50 1.2 0.6
Chironomidae (unidentified) 244 0 0 0 61 1.5 0.7
Other Taxa GROUP Cloeon dipterum 14 58 266 14 88 4.1 1
Ischnura elegans 0 8 28 8 11 0.5 0.1
Orthetrum albistylum 0 8 38 0 11 0.5 0.1
Sigara lateralis 0 0 44 0 11 0.5 0.1
Sigara striata 0 0 112 0 28 1.3 0.3
Corixidae (nymph) 8 214 28 22 68 3.1 0.8
Hydroglyphus geminus 4414 222 1978 22 1659 76.7 18.5
Peltodytes caesus 0 0 0 96 24 1.1 0.3
Berosus spinosus 22 0 0 0 5 0.3 0.1
Coleoptera ( larvae) 30 52 112 140 84 3.9 0.9
Ceratopogonidae 8 0 8 8 6 0.3 0.1
Culicidae 8 0 466 8 121 5.6 1.3
Ephydridae 22 0 66 0 22 1 0.2
Stratiomyidae 28 0 22 52 26 1.2 0.3
Other Taxa GROUP Nematoda 1504 282 556 512 713 41.9 8
Erpobdella octoculata 8 8 28 0 11 0.6 0.1
Physella acuta 206 52 186 282 182 10.7 2
Gyraulus piscinarum 0 0 14 38 13 0.8 0.1
Planorbis carinatus 0 8 0 244 63 3.7 0.7
Planorbis sp. 44 88 0 148 70 4.1 0,8
Ostracoda 1874 126 0 0 500 29.3 5.6
Hydrachnidae 0 44 8 36 22 1.3 0.2
Diplostraca 0 0 512 0 128 7.5 1.4
Gammarus komareki 8 0 0 0 2 0.1 0
Oligochaeta Total 2362 386 0 798 886 100 9,9
Chironomidae Total 586 2808 10682 2718 4199 100 46,9
Other Insecta Total 4554 562 3168 370 2164 100 24,2
Other Taxa Total 3644 608 1304 1260 1704 100 19
Total 11146 4364 15154 5146 8953 100 100
Number of taxa 28 24 23 25 47

Concentrations of the determined pesticides in water samples (ppm)

Pesticide Station
Artesian Meriç Ergene Meriç-Ergene
Acetamiprid 0.0227 0.0497 1.2092 0.672
Azoxystrobin 0.0401 1.0789 13.6247 0.2291
Carbendazim 0.374 1.8176 2.163 0.9806
Carbofuran 0.0069 0.0105 * *
Cyproconazole * * 12.3969 *
Dicrotophos * 0.0122 * 0.0097
Dimoxystrobin-688 0.0416 * * 0.0488
Ethiofencarb * 0.0549 0.0734 0.0677
Fluoxastrobin-698 0.0749 0.2242 0.1022 0.0803
Flutriafol 0.1847 0.1777 0.2103 0.1871
Forchlorfenuron-706 0.6974 1.3388 1.1613 2.4202
Mandipropamid * * * 0.0703
Monocrotophos 0.0062 0.0102 * 0.0098
Pirimicarb 0.0097 0.01 0.0052 0.0066
Prometryn 0.021 * * *
Spiroxamine * 0.0546 * 0.0721
Tebuthiuron 0.0204 0.0113 0.0228 0.0206
Thiabendazole 0.0402 0.0353 0.0276 0.0228
Thiacloprid 0.0229 0.025 0.026 0.0273
Trifloxystrobin 0.1061 0.1048 0.1055 0.0507
Vamidathion 0.0051 0.0087 0.0036 0.0077
Number of pesticides 16 kinds 17 kinds 15 kinds 18 kinds

Results of the potential ecological risk index associated with the presence of heavy metals measured in sediment at sampling sites

Water resources Eir RI
Cd Cu Ni Mn
Artesian 26.826 0.610 0.139 0.016 27.591
Meriç River 49.125 1.233 0.078 0.015 50.451
Ergene River 25.215 0.458 0.122 0.017 25.811
Meriç-Ergene mixed 32.280 0.476 0.086 0.016 32.857

Results of the hypothetical impact matrix

Stressors assessment S1 S2 S3 S4 Row sum
(impact assessment)
S1 0 1 2 –3 0
S2 –1 0 1 –4 –4
S3 –2 –1 0 –5 –8
S4 3 4 5 0 12

Sampling locations

Sampling location Location of paddy fields Irrigation water source Coordinates
A1 Havsa (Necatiye village) Artesian water 41°30’20”N; 26°53’28”E
A2* Tekirdağ (Hayrabolu) Artesian water 41°13’05”N; 27°06’58”E
M1 Meriç (Küplü village) Meriç River 41°02’10”N; 26°20’36”E
M2* Edirne (Kapikule) Meriç River 41°42’37”N; 26°22’31”E
E1 Uzunköprü (Çiftlik village) Ergene River 41°14’27”N; 26°37’02”E
E2* Uzunköprü (Centrum) Ergene River 41°15’46”N; 26°41’32”E
ME1 Ipsala (Border Gate) Meriç + Ergene River 40°55’47”N; 26°20’50”E
ME2* Ipsala (Yenikarpuzlu village) Meriç + Ergene River 40°46’38”N; 26°17’08”E

Biological risk index results for sediments at the sampling locations

Water resources ERM-Qi
Cd Cu Ni mERM-Qi
Artesian 0.049 0.009 0.02 0.026
Meriç River 0.09 0.018 0.01 0.039
Ergene River 0.046 0.007 0.02 0.024
Meriç-Ergene mixed 0.059 0.007 0.01 0.025

Reference values for the analyzed heavy metals (Cin), toxicity coefficient (Tir), medium effect range (ERM) (Hakanson 1980; Xu et al. 2008)

Element RI mERM-Q
Cin Tir ERM
Cd 0.5 30 9
Cu 30 5 390
Ni 50 5 50
Mn 860 1 -

Concentration of heavy metals in sediment samples (ppm)

Water resources Heavy metals
Cd Ni Cu Mn
Artesian 0.441 1.388 3.659 13.722
Meriç River 0.818 0.78 7.397 13.169
Ergene River 0.42 1.217 2.748 14.405
Meriç–Ergene rivers (mixed) 0.538 0.858 2.855 13.485

Physicochemical parameters at the sampling locations in the study season

Unit Spring Summer Autumn Average Standard Deviation Water quality
Temperature °C 26.3 30.9 20.5 25.9 ± 5.2 II
pH 8.8 7.6 5.8 7.4 ± 1.5 I
Conductivity μS cm-1 813.5 1707.5 2437.1 1652.7 ± 813.2 III
Salinity ‰ 0.5 0.8 1.3 0.9 ± 0.4 -
TDS 500 500 1100 1400 1000 ± 458.2 I
Ca+2 mg l-1 53.3 33.2 57.9 48.1 ± 13.1 -
Mg+2 6.1 4.2 0.0 3.4 ± 3.1 -
T.H. FSo 18.9 7.6 38.5 21.7 ± 15.6 -
NO2-N 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 ± 0.1 I
NO3-N 4.5 2.6 1.8 3 ± 1.4 I
PO4-3 mg l-1 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.3 ± 0.1 II
SO4-2 3.6 3.1 2.7 3.1 ± 0.5 I
D.O. 4 5.6 3.5 4.4 ± 1.1 III
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