Macrophytes as indicators of the ecological state of small rivers in Minsk Region

Abstract

The ecological state of 18 small rivers in Minsk Region was for the first time estimated by jointly used macrophyte-based characteristics, including saprobity index, biological macrophyte index for rivers, and a scale of cenotic/supercenotic organization of aquatic and coastal-aquatic plants. Rivers with relatively safe ecological status were shown to dominate, while other rivers are in a safe and satisfactory state. The proposed approach to determining the ecological quality of watercourses is based on the calculation of a complex characteristic, i.e., an integral macrophyte index of small river ecological status; this index has been developed in the context of a classification scheme of surface water quality in the National Environmental Monitoring System of the Republic of Belarus.