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Assessment of the Ecological Integrity of Traunsee (Austria) Via Analysis of Sediments and Benthic Microbial Communities

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Water, Air and Soil Pollution: Focus

Abstract

Since nearly one hundred years Traunsee experiences the import of tons of liquid and solid waste originating from salt and soda production. Today, the lake exhibits chloride concentrations of up to 170 mg L-1 and 19% of the lake floor are directly or indirectly influenced by industrial deposits (ID). Based on the comparison of several microbial parameters in unaffected, directly affected and intermediate lake bottom sediments, the ecological integrity of the lake was evaluated. The highly alkaline ID, which were exclusively colonized by microorganisms, harbored a bacterial community reduced by a factor of 10 in abundance and biomass compared to undisturbed sediment areas within the lake. The bacterial community of ID was furthermore characterized by a reduced content of actively respiring cells (INT-formazan reduction), a lower frequency of dividing cells (FDC) and a significantly reduced cell and biomass production. A 80 to 90% reduction in carbon recycling is estimated for the area exclusively covered by ID. Protists, although occasionally absent from the industrial sediments, were in general found to be less sensitive to the contaminant stress. Differences in alkalinity and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations of sediment porewaters as well as the total organic content and C/N ratios of sediments partly explain the microbial pattern observed at the various sampling sites. Possible consequences of the continuous industrial tailings for the whole lake ecosystem and the validation of the ecological integrity are discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Applied Geoscience, Eberhard-Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

    Christian Griebler & Birgit Mindl

  2. Institute for Limnology, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Mondsee, Austria

    Christian Griebler

  3. Institute of Zoology and Limnology, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

    Bettina Sonntag, Birgit Mindl, Thomas Posch, Susanne Klammer & Roland Psenner

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  1. Christian Griebler
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  2. Bettina Sonntag
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Griebler, C., Sonntag, B., Mindl, B. et al. Assessment of the Ecological Integrity of Traunsee (Austria) Via Analysis of Sediments and Benthic Microbial Communities. Water, Air, & Soil Pollution: Focus 2, 33–62 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020349218009

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