Diatoms as indicators of water quality in some English urban lakes

SUMMARY. 1. The paper describes diatom communities from a series of linked urban lakes in relation to water chemistry and uses multivariate statistical techniques to show how indicator groups can he defined.
2. Diatoms are classified into ecological groups using two-way species indicator analysis (TWINSPAN). Each ecological group is associated with a specific range of water-quality conditions. The headwater stream environments are differentiated from the lake habitats at level 1. At level 2 of TWINSPAN. the sampling sites are grouped into five ecological groups, according to their water chemistry and irrespective of the time of year.
3. Detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) and principal components analysis (PCA) provide two statistically independent methods of assessing the environmental gradients along which the ecological groups are distributed. The most important physico-chemical parameters are total hardness, specific conductance and pH, followed by phosphates and nitrates.
4. Ecological groups I-V correspond to an environmental gradient ranging from the forested headwaters, which are acidic, of low specific conductance, total hardness and nutrient content, through the urban lakes, which are alkaline and of relatively high total hardness, specific conductance and nutrient content.
5. Twelve site groups are identified at level 3 of TWINSPAN, each of which corresponds to a narrower range of water-quality conditions within the ecological groupings. A specific diatom assemblage is associated with each site group.
6. Benthic diatoms form an integral part of the diatom assemblages found in the water column and this is identified as a topic for further study.