Biological and Ecological Monitoring Using Epiphytic Diatoms on Two Aquatic Plants to Estimate the Water Quality of Habbaniyah Lake, Western Iraq

Abstract

The current study was conducted in Habbaniyah Lake in Anbar Governorate - western Iraq, starting from February 2022 tol July 2022. Five sites were chosen to collect water samples and epiphytic diatoms attached to two aquatic plants, Phragmites australlis (Cav.) Trin. and Ceratophylum demsrsam L.. The current study aims to employ the quality and quantity of the epiphytic diatoms community attached to the host aquatic plants to estimate the quality of the lake water, by conducting a set of environmental indicators that included biological indicators. 102 species of Bacillariophyceae class were identified. Where 84 species were diagnosed on the Ceratophyllum, while 61 species were diagnosed on the Phragmites In the current study, a set of ecological indices was conducted to characterize the water quality of Habbaniyah Lake, which included three biological indices: the Tolerance Pollution Index (PTI), where the lake was described as moderately polluted, to record values whose averages ranged (1.65-2.35), and Trophic Diatomic Index (TDI), whose average values ranged from (55.62 - 58.72), where the lake was described as mesotrophic and Shannon Diversity Index, where the waters of Lake Habbaniyah were described as having medium biodiversity, recording average values (2.22 - 2.50). An environmental index was conducted, which is the Canadian Water Quality Index (CCME), where it recorded values that ranged from (76.59 - 78.66), where the lake water was described as of moderate (Fair) quality and often threatened or weak from time to time, and the water condition deviates from the required level. or desired.