Benthic diatoms of the Vrla River (Serbia) and their application in the water ecological status assessment

Epilithic diatoms from the Vrla River (Serbia) have been used to assess the ecological status of water. A total of 227 diatom taxa belonging to 50 genera were identified in the Vrla River during six research seasons with 13 dominant species recorded. Gomphonema (30 species), Navicula (28) and Nitzschia (26) were the most species-rich genera, followed by Pinnularia (12) and Encyonema (11). One taxa was recorded as new to Serbia – Geissleria acceptata. CCA grouped the diatom taxa into three main groups. The first group included taxa found at most of the sampling sites, the second group involved diatom taxa significantly positively correlated with the oxygen, while the third group showed positive correlation with temperature. RDA showed that some diatom taxa, including: Cocconeis placentula var. placentula, C. placentula var. lineata, C. pseudolineata and Mayamaea atomus var. permitis, are significantly positively correlated with temperature, while others, for example Achnanthidium minutissimum, Hannaea arcus, Nitzschia pura are mostly correlated with total phosphorus, alkalinity and water hardness. The ecological status of the Vrla River ranged from moderate, good to high. It was shown that according to the diatom indices, the ecological status of water downstream and upstream of a trout fish pond was slightly different.