BIOLOGICAL FACTORS IN CONTROL OF WATER QUALITY.
The paper in English.
Full text online free: http://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/biological-factors-in-control-of-water-quality;
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268871749_Biological_factors;
The paper in English.
Full text online free: http://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/biological-factors-in-control-of-water-quality;
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268871749_Biological_factors;
Author/Автор: OSTROUMOV S.A.
Reference / Журнал: Самарская Лука: проблемы региональной и глобальной экологии
Выпуск № 4, том 19, 2010, pages 4-15;
Translit of the name of the journal: Samarskaya Luka: problemy regional'noy i global'noy ekologii.
The reference in English: Ostroumov S.A. Biological factors in control of water quality.
Reference / Журнал: Самарская Лука: проблемы региональной и глобальной экологии
Выпуск № 4, том 19, 2010, pages 4-15;
Translit of the name of the journal: Samarskaya Luka: problemy regional'noy i global'noy ekologii.
The reference in English: Ostroumov S.A. Biological factors in control of water quality.
[Moscow State University] ISSN 2073-1035;
http://5bio5.blogspot.com/2014/11/biological-factors-in-control-of-water.html
The site of the journal: http://www.ssc.smr.ru/ssc_sl.html ;
about the journal:
http://cyberleninka.ru/journal/n/samarskaya-luka-problemy-regionalnoy-i-globalnoy-ekologii;
Publisher: Russian Academy of Sciences (Samara Scientific Center of RAS);
**
Коды
ГРНТИ: 34 — БИОЛОГИЯ
ВАК РФ: 03.00.00
УДK: 57
Указанные автором: УДК: 557.475:574.5:574.6
Ключевые слова / Key words:
WATER QUALITY ,
AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS ,
SURFACTANTS ,
DETERGENTS ,
BIVALVES ,
HEAVY METALS ,
WATER FILTRATION ,
SELF-PURIFICATION ,
XENOBIOTICS ,
POLLUTANTS ,
ASSESSMENT ,
ENVIRONMENTAL RISKS AND HAZARDS ,
POLLUTION ,
MARINE SYSTEMS ,
FILTER-FEEDERS ,
TRITON X-100 ,
INHIBITORY EFFECTS ,
TDTMA ,
MUSSELS ,
ROTIFERS ,
INHIBITION OF FEEDING ,
TX100 ,
SDS ,
SUBLETHAL CONCENTRATIONS ,
MYTILUS EDULIS ,
MYTILUS GALLOPROVINCIALIS ,
UNIO TUMIDUS ,
LYMNAEA STAGNALIS,
Аннотация
научной статьи по биологии, автор научной работы — OSTROUMOV S.A.
В статье в систематизированном виде представлены обобщения, которые содержат основные элементы качественной теории биотического контроля качества воды и самоочищения воды в пресноводных и морских экосистем. Теория способствует лучшему пониманию вопросов стабильности и регуляции процессов, происходящих в биосфере. Теория подтверждается результатами экспериментальных исследований автора, в которых изучались биологические эффекты при воздействии поверхностно-активных веществ (ПАВ), детергентов и других загрязняющих веществ на водные организмы.
Научная статья по специальности "БИОЛОГИЯ" из научного журнала "Самарская Лука: проблемы региональной и глобальной экологии",
OSTROUMOV S.A.
Научная библиотека КиберЛенинка: http://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/biological-factors-in-control-of-water-quality#ixzz3KTasqsQ8
**
page 4.
Рублика: ОРИГИНАЛЬНЫЕ СТАТЬИ
Самарская Лука: проблемы региональной и глобальной экологии.
2010. – Т. 19, № 4. – С. 4-15.
УДК 557.475:574.5:574.6;
BIOLOGICAL FACTORS IN CONTROL OF WATER QUALITY
© 2010 S.A. Ostroumov [full name with patronimics: Ostroumov Sergey Andreevich]
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of Biology; Moscow 119991;
Поступила 12 февраля 2009 г.
Ostroumov S.A. BIOLOGICAL FACTORS IN CONTROL OF WATER
QUALITY
Abstract: Generalizations presented in this paper represent, in a systematized form, the
basic elements of the qualitative theory of biotic control of water quality and water
self-purication in freshwater and marine ecosystems. The theory contributes to a
better understanding of the issues of stability and regulation in the biosphere. The
theory is supported by the results of the author’s experimental studies of the effects
exerted by surfactants, detergents and other pollutants on aquatic organisms.
Key words: water quality, aquatic ecosystems, surfactants, detergents,
bivalves, surfactants, heavy metals, water filtration, self-purification, xenobiotics,
pollutants, assessment, environmental risks and hazards, pollution, marine systems,
filter-feeders, Triton X-100, inhibitory effects, TDTMA, mussels, rotifers, inhibition
of feeding, TX100, SDS, detergents, sublethal concentrations, Mytilus edulis, Mytilus
galloprovincialis, Unio tumidus, Lymnaea stagnalis;
Остроумов С.А. БИОЛОГИЧЕСКИЕ ФАКТОРЫ КОНТРОЛЯ
КАЧЕСТВА ВОДЫ.
В статье в систематизированном виде представлены обобщения, которые
содержат основные элементы качественной теории биотического контроля
качества воды и самоочищения воды в пресноводных и морских экосистем.
Теория способствует лучшему пониманию вопросов стабильности и регуляции
процессов, происходящих в биосфере. Теория подтверждается результатами
экспериментальных исследований автора, в которых изучались биологические
эффекты при воздействии поверхностно-активных веществ (ПАВ), детергентов
и других загрязняющих веществ на водные организмы.
The text of the paper:
INTRODUCTION
In 2000, A.F. Alimov developed some elements of the theory of the functioning of
aquatic ecosystems [1]. However, this theory did not cover in detail the role of aquatic
biota in the control of water quality. The latter depends on the activities of many aquatic
organisms [2-19].
The role of the ecological factors and processes that contribute to improving water
quality (water self-purication) increases due to the deterioration of natural water quality
[3, 4, 14, 20] and increased anthropogenic impact on water bodies and streams [3, 14, 21-
[page 5]
41]. The self-purication of aquatic ecosystems and water quality formation is controlled
by many factors [8, 15, 17, 20-33, 36–38, 42-50].
The aim of this study is to systematize the knowledge about the polyfunctional role
of aquatic biota (aquatic organisms) in the self-purication of water bodies and streams
and briey present the qualitative theory of the self-purication mechanism of aquatic
ecosystems. The synthesis and system-based organization of the material was made at the
conceptual level without detailed review of extensive literature.
This paper is substantially based on the string of our previous publications,
including [18, 19, 24, 32] and others.
MAJOR PROCESSES CONTRIBUTING TO WATER SELF-PURIFICATION IN
AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
The formation of water quality and its purication in aquatic ecosystems is
governed by physical, chemical [42], and biotic [1, 2, 8, 15, 17, 20, 22, 23, 25, 26, 28, 30,
31, 33, 36–38, 42, 46, 49, 50] processes.
The physical and chemical processes of water self-purication are often controlled
by biological factors or strongly dependent on them. Thus, the redox state of the aquatic
environment, which forms with the participation of H2O2 released by microalgae in the
light [23, 42], is of importance for a decrease in the toxic effect of some pollutants. The
concentration of H2O2 in the Volga was found to equal up to 10–6–10–5 mol/l, which was
supported by measurements made by Dr. E.V. Shtamm and other authors [23, 42].
An important process is gravitational sedimentation of suspended particles both of
biotic and abiotic nature. The sedimentation of phytoplankton depends on water
temperature T. It is equal to 0.3–1.5, 0.4–1.7, and 0.4–2.0 m/day at T = 15, 20, and 25°C,
respectively. According to our data, the sedimentation velocity of the pellets of Lymnaea
stagnalis varies from 0.6 to 1.4 cm/s with a mean value of 0.82 cm/s (at T = 22–24°C)
[23] .
Experiments with the traps for suspended particles showed that the suspended
matter precipitates onto the bed of the River Moskva with a mean rate of 2.3 mg per 1
cm2 of the bed surface per day, that is, 23.1 g per 1 m2 of the bed surface per day; the
proportion of Corg in these sediments is 64.5% [40].
Organic matter oxidation and water ltration by aquatic invertebrate animals (filterfeeders)
are among the major biotic processes contributing to improving water quality
and water purication.
The overall oxidation of organic matter by the entire community can be expressed
either in absolute or in relative units, for example, as the ratio of energy expenditure to
the exchange (total respiration R) by aquatic animals to their total biomass B. This ratio
(R/B)e is referred to as Schroedinger ratio. The subscript “e” is introduced to show that
the estimation is made for the ecosystem as a whole. In the water bodies where primary
production exceeds the total respiration of the community, this ratio averages 2.99–6.1
[1], but it can be even greater in some water bodies. For example, the Schroedinger ratio
is 17.0 in Lake Lyubevoe in the Leningrad province and 33.8 in Lake Zun-Torei east of
Lake Baikal [1]. It is believed that the primary production in these lakes is much less than
the total respiration and a large amount of organic matter delivered from outside is
oxidized here.
Many aquatic organisms contribute to organic matter oxidation, but particular role
in this oxidation belongs to bacteria [31]. The total population of heterotrophic
6
bacterioplankton in the Mozhaisk Reservoir in June and July amounted to (1.36–5.9) ×
109 (samples were taken at a depth of 0.1–1 m), and the population of hydrocarbonoxidizing
bacteria was (0.4–5) × 106 cell/ml [8].
The rate of water ltration by some aquatic animals (e.g., zooplankton, barnacles,
some echinoderms, bivalves, polychaetes, sponges and many others) commonly amount
to 1–9 l/h per 1 g of ash - free dry mass of their body [22, 23]. The dependence of
ltration rate FR, l/h, on the mass of the aquatic animal DW, g, can be described by the
power function [2, 23].
FR = a DWb, (1)
where DW is the dry weight of soft tissues, g.
The values of coefcient a for some bivalve mollusk species vary from 6.8 to 11.6,
and those of coefcient b lie between 0.66 and 0.92 [23].
The rate of water ltration by ve bivalve mollusk species converted to the area of
their gills is about 1.2–1.9 ml/min per 1 cm2 [23].
The total rate of water ltration by populations of macroinvertebrates (e.g., bivalve
mollusks, polychaetes) was estimated at 1–10 m3 per 1 m2 of the bed of the aquatic
ecosystem per 1 day [20, 23]. Additional data on the ltration activity of aquatic animals
is given in [32] (see Tables 2 and 3 in [32]).
THE MAJOR COMPONENTS OF THE SELF-PURIFICATION MECHANISM
OF AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
According to a series of our previous publications, the biological self-purication
mechanism of aquatic ecosystems incorporates three main types of major functional
components [22, 23]: ltration activity of organisms (“lters”) [21]; the mechanisms of
transfer of chemicals from one ecological compartment into another, from one medium
into another (“pumps”); and splitting pollutant molecules (“mills”).
The processes and aquatic organisms that serve as lters [21, 22, 23]:the
invertebrate lter-feeders [2, 44]; the coastal macrophytes, which retain some nutrients
and pollutants delivered into water from neighboring areas; the benthos, which retains
and absorbs part of nutrients and pollutants at the water–bottom sediment interface; the
microorganisms adsorbed on particulates that move within water column due to
sedimentation of particles under the effect of gravity; as a result, the water mass and
microorganisms moves relative to one another, which is equivalent to the situation when
water moves through a porous substrate with microorganisms attached to walls [21].
Precipitation of a suspended particle, that is, its movement relative to water, enhances O2
exchange between the adsorbed bacteria and the aquatic medium [50].
The processes and aquatic organisms that serve as pumps [22, 23] : the transfer of
part of pollutants from the water column to bottom sediments (e.g., sedimentation,
sorption); the transfer of part of pollutants from the water column into the atmosphere
(evaporation); the transfer of part of nutrients from water onto the territory of
neighboring terrestrial ecosystems because of the emergence of imago of aquatic insects;
the transfer of part of nutrients from water onto the territory of neighboring terrestrial
ecosystems through sh-eating birds, which withdraw some sh biomass from water.
The processes and aquatic organisms that serve as mills and split the molecules of
many pollutants [22, 23]: the intracellular enzymatic processes; the processes catalyzed
by extracellular enzymes; the decomposition of pollutants by photolysis: the
7
photochemical processes, sensitized by organic matter; the destruction of pollutants in the
free-radical processes with the participation of biogenic ligands [42].
ENERGY SOURCES FOR BIOTIC SELF-PURIFICATION MECHANISMS OF
AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
As all types of machinery, the biomachinery for water self-purification needs some
reliable sources of energy.
The processes of biotic self-purication of water take energy from the following
sources: photosynthesis, oxidation of autochthonous and allochthonous organic matter;
other redox reactions. Thus, practically all available energy sources are used. A part of
the energy is supplied through oxidation of the components (dissolved and particulate
organic matter) which the system gets rid of [34].
Water self-purication is commonly associated with organic matter oxidation by
aerobic microorganisms. Equally important are anaerobic processes which receive energy
from the transfer of electrons to acceptors other than oxygen. Anaerobic energetics feeds
the metabolism of microorganisms of methanogenic community (decomposition of
organic matter results in the production of H2S, H2, and CH4), and anoxygenic
phototrophic community (with the formation of SO4
2-, H2S, H2, and CH4) [50]. The
products produced by organisms of these communities are used as oxidation substrates by
organisms of other communities, including the organisms that form the group referred to
as a bacterial oxidation lter. The latter lter functions under aerobic conditions and
oxidizes H2, CH4 (methanotrophs), NH3(nitrifiers), H2S (thiobacteria), thiosulfate (thionic
bacteria) [50].
For example, in Lake Mirror (USA), 19.1 g C/m2 of lake surface is oxidized
annually due to phytoplankton respiration, 12.0 due to zooplankton respiration, 1.0 due to
macrophytes, 1.16 due to attached plants, 2.8 due to benthic invertebrates, and 0.2 g C/m2
due to sh. Oxidation by bacteria in bottom sediments and by bacterioplankton accounts
for 17.3 and 4.9 g C/m2 of lake surface [49].
INVOLVEMENT OF MAJOR TAXA IN SELF-PURIFICATION PROCESSES IN
AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
Analysis of facts demonstrated how practically all major groups of organisms
contribute to self-purication of aquatic ecosystems and formation of water quality [11,
17, 20, 22, 23, 25–29, 31, 33–38, 49, 50].
A signicant role belongs to microorganisms [8, 46, 50, 44], phytoplankton [22,
23], higher plants [22, 23], protozoa [11], zooplankton [22, 23, 49], benthic invertebrates
[22, 23, 49], and sh. All these groups contribute largely to the self-purication of
aquatic ecosystems, each group taking part in several processes.
Additional data on the role of aquatic plants were obtained by E.V. Lazareva and
S.A. Ostroumov in their experiments with microcosms [12]. In those experiments it was
shown that aquatic plants accelerated the decrease in concentration of a synthetic
surfactant, sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS), that was added to water [12]). This result is
of interest, as synthetic surfactants are an important group of chemical pollutants of
aquatic environment.
Microbial processes of water self-purication are associated basically with the
activity of heterotrophic aerobic bacteria; however, representatives of practically all
8
major bacterial groups (>30) participate in the key processes of organic matter
destruction and self-purication of water bodies [50].
It is worth mentioning that the microorganisms participating in the destruction of
biopolymers and in water self-purication system feature wide taxonomic diversity [50].
An important role in organic matter destruction and self-purication of aquatic
ecosystems belongs also to eucaryotic microorganisms (protists), in particular, euglenes,
ameboagellates, dinoagellates, infusoria, heteroagellates, cryptomonades,
choanoagellates, metamonads, chitrids, and other organisms ([50] and others).
An important process of water self purication is water ltration by organisms of
many taxa [2, 15, 22, 23, 44]. A detailed list of taxa, including planktonic and benthic
lter-feeders in aquatic ecosystems, is given in [37]. The contributions of different
groups of organisms to C removal from water of eutrophic Lake Esrum (Denmark) in
percent of the total C withdrawn from water are as follows: 24.4% by respiration of
producers, 20.9% by bacterial respiration, 30.7% by respiration of consumers, 4.5%
(appears to be determined not completely) by the respiration of microorganisms in
sediments, 0.14% by the emergence of aquatic insects [49].
The results of the analysis of roles of organisms in aquatic ecosystems made us
conclude that virtually all groups of organisms belonging to procaryotes and eucaryotes
are involved in water self-purication.
THE RELIABILITY OF WATER SELF-PURIFICATION BIOMACHINERY
The reliability of a technical system often relies on the presence of back-up
components. Analysis of aquatic ecosystems shows a similar principle to govern their
functioning. For example, the ltration activity of aquatic animals is doubled so that it is
implemented by two large groups of organisms, i.e., plankton and benthos. Both groups
lter water with a considerable rate [2, 15, 20, 44]. Additionally, benthos duplicates the
activity of the planktonic organisms permanently inhabiting the pelagic zone, since the
larvae of many benthic lter-feeders follow the planktonic way of life. Plankton
incorporates two large groups of the multicellular invertebrate lter-feeders, i.e.,
crustaceans [44] and rotifers [15], both of which implement water ltration. One more
large group of the organisms (protozoa), which have somewhat different type of feeding,
also duplicates the ltration activity of multicellular lter-feeders (crustaceans and
rotifers).
The enzymatic decomposition of pollutants is partially duplicated by the activities
of bacteria and fungi. Almost all aquatic organisms, which are, in someway or another,
capable of consuming and oxidizing dissolved organic matter, perform this function.
Self-regulation of biota is an important component of the reliability of water selfpuri
cation mechanism. The organisms that took active part in water self-purication are
subject to control by other organisms of both lower and higher trophic levels in the food
web. The regulating role of organisms can be effectively studied with the use of the
author’s method of the inhibitor analysis of regulatory interactions in trophic chains [26,
27].
Various forms of signaling, including the information-carrying chemicals
(ecological chemoregulators and chemomediators [28, 29, 31]) play important roles in the
regulation of ecosystems.
Self-control of water quality, water purication and permanent restoration of its
quality is an important component for ecosystem self-stabilization. The restoration of the
9
water quality is vital for ecosystem stability, because the autochthonous and
allochthonous organic matter and nutrients permanently go into water from the
surrounding land, by water of tributaries, atmospheric precipitation, and the solid
particles carried by air [49]. Therefore, water self-purication is as important for an
aquatic ecosystem as DNA repair is for the heredity system. This allows us to regard
water self-purication as an ecological repair in aquatic ecosystems.
The wide range of variations in the ltration activity rates suggests the need to
regulate this activity. The volume of water ltered within one hour and measured in the
body volumes of the lter-feeders amounts to 5 × 106 for nanoagellates and 5 × 105 for
ciliates [49]. Cladocerans lter up to 4–14 ml per one organism per day [49] (according
to [44], 20–130 ml). Copepods and rotifers lter 2–27 [49] and 0.07–0.3 ml/day per
animal, respectively [15]. All these aquatic animals and other lter-feeders remove
suspensions from water.
Thus, all forms of regulation and communication of organisms within community
are of importance for maintaining the reliability of ecosystem functioning. Some
important role in the regulation and communication in aquatic communities belongs to
dissolved substances, ecological chemoregulators and chemomediators [28, 29, 31].
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE RELIABILITY OF WATER
SELF-PURIFICATION BIOMACHINERY AND
AQUATIC ECOSYSTEM STABILITY
In our opinion, filtration activity of filter-feeders is not only a part of water selfpuri
cation process and water quality repair, but also a part of processes that maintain the
stability of the aquatic ecosystem. The latter is performed through the conditioning of
water, which serves as a habitat for many other aquatic species, and “the environmental
tax for the environmental stability” that lter-feeders pay in the form of pellets of organic
material. These pellets form in the organisms of lter-feeders (e.g., bivalve mollusks)
from particulate organic matter they lter out from water and release into the
environment in the form of ‘lumps’. Pellets precipitate onto the bed of water bodies or
streams. The pellets are used as food by many other aquatic organisms, including
zoobenthos and bacteria. The “environmental tax” is surprisingly high as compared with
the share of C of the organic matter included in production. In some cases, it can be
>100%, when calculated as the ratio of the amount of C not assimilated from the food
(that is, C from fecal and pseudofecal pellets) to the amount of C consumed and
assimilated for production.
The formation of pseudofeces by filter-feeding bivalves (that is, the process in
which part of the ltered seston does not pass through the digestive tract of the mollusk
but is prepared to the release into the environment in the form of pellets) begins at rather
low seston concentration. Thus, at the concentration of seston as low as 2.6 mg/l (the
concentration of seston is commonly much greater), mollusks Mytilus edulis (shell size of
1.7 cm) started releasing pseudofecal pellets [23]. Therefore, the formation of
pseudofeces is not the result of excessive concentration of organic matter in the aquatic
environment.
The high “environmental tax” is justied because the lter-feeders will eventually
benet from the high level of stability of water quality characteristics. The entire system
of water self-purication also benets from this, because it requires the wide diversity of
aquatic species to maintain its stability.
10
Aquatic ecosystems serve as one of the most important regulators of global
geochemical cycles (e.g., of water and C), the stability of which withstands the hazard of
global disturbances. Therefore, the reliability of water self-purication biomachinery is
of key importance for the global stability in the biosphere [31].
RESPONSE OF THE ENTIRE BIOMACHINERY OF WATER
SELF-PURIFICATION TO EXTERNAL (ANTHROPOGENIC)
IMPACTS ON THE AQUATIC ECOSYSTEM
Is the rate of functional activity of the biomachinery of water self-purification a
certain constant?
The author has found an essential element of lability in one of the processes
involved in water self-purication, i.e., water ltration by aquatic animals (mollusks and
rotifers) [17, 20–23, 25–27, 29–31, 33–39]. In a series of our experiments, water
ltration was inhibited by sublethal concentrations of many anthropogenic pollutants,
such as synthetic surfactants, surfactant-containing mixed preparations, and heavy
metals (Table). Other pollutants were found to have similar effect on mollusks and
planktonic lter-feeders [5, 23].
Table
Inhibitory effect of various pollutants on suspension withdrawal from water by
filter-feeders. (TX-100 is the non-ionic surfactant Triton X-100; LD is liquid detergent,
SDS is the anionic surfactant, sodium dodecyl sulfate, TDTMA is the cationic surfactant,
tetradecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide ([23] and other publications by the author;
the data on Daphnia magna from [47])
Substances Organism s Concentration, mg/l
TX-100 Unio tumidus 5
TDTMA Crassostrea gigas 0.5
SDS Mytilus edulis >1
and M. galloprovincialis
SDS C. gigas 0.5
Copper sulfate M. galloprovincialis 2
Lead nitrate M. galloprovincialis 20
LD “E” C. gigas 2
LD “Fairy” C. gigas 2
TDTMA Brachionus angularis 0.5
TDTMA B. plicatilis 0.5
TDTMA B. calyciflorus 0.5
SDS Daphnia magna 0.5-10
Recently I.M. Vorozhun and S.A. Ostroumov have shown that the synthetic
surfactant dodecyl sulphate (SDS) has an inhibitory effect on the ability of the planktonic
filter-feeders Daphnia magna to remove phytoplankton from water during their filtration
activity [47].
The population biomass of lter-feeders in polluted aquatic ecosystems decreases,
the result of which is an additional drop in the total ltration activity in such ecosystems
[23].
11
Therefore, the biomachinery of water self-purication processes and its quality
formation is labile [22, 23, 38], and quickly rearranges to adjust to changes in the
environment. The obtained data demonstrate the hazard of a decrease in the efciency of
water self-purication system in aquatic ecosystems subject to anthropogenic impacts
(chemical pollution of water bodies and streams) [17, 20–23, 25–27, 29, 31, 33–36, 38,
39].
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THIS THEORY AND FUNDAMENTAL
ECOLOGICAL CONCEPTS
A key principle in the organization of ecosystems is the interdependence and
mutual usefulness of the organisms involved. This principle is conrmed so often that it
has almost become an axiom and does not attract particular attention. However, its
signicance manifests itself in a new way in the analysis of water self-purication
processes in aquatic ecosystems. The cooperative functioning of procaryote communities
is one example. Another example is the high activity of lter-feeders in removing
suspension from water, during which the amount of suspended organic matter extracted
from water is much greater than it is required for the organism of the filter-feeder [2, 22,
23]. The environmental signicance of suspension removal from water and pellet
formation is analyzed in detail in [23]. The assimilation of food by lter-feeders in the
laboratory experiments was ~50–60% [15], however it can be much lower in nature.
Thus, bivalve mollusks Mytilus galloprovincialis (with a biomass of 2 g) featured the
assimilation that varied within the year from 4.8 to 51% [23], that is, in some cases >95%
of ltered out material was finally released by the mussels in the form of pellets.
In our opinion, the synecological cooperation is one of the functional principles of
the biomachinery of water self-purification.
Biocontrol of water quality (the purication of aquatic ecosystem) is accompanied
by transfer of chemical substances and their constituents from one location within the
aquatic ecosystem into another. The results of data analysis support the earlier formulated
proposition that “a competitive unity of vector and stochastic motion of chemical
elements and the regulation of these processes based on biological matter exist in aquatic
ecosystems” [33]. Conrmations were also obtained for the assumption that the following
phenomena take place in aquatic ecosystems: “a competitive unity”; biological-mattercontrolled
regulation of cyclic and noncyclic paths of chemical elements; as well as the
regulation of the transfer of chemical elements from one phase into another (inter-phase
transfer) and from one organism into another (organism-to-organism transfers) [33].
Suggesting the term “a competitive unity” we mean that it is a unity, a union that
embraces the components that compete against each other. The author emphasizes that
the regulation of many processes of transfer of chemical elements in aquatic ecosystems
is biologically and abiotically controlled, and the roles of both components of that control
— biotic and abiotic — are equally important and integrated with each other. We
suggested a special term that underlines the integrity of both types (biotic and abiotic) of
that control of the transfer of matter – in Russian language this term is “biokosnyj
control” [33].
12
FROM STUDYING THE BIOMACHINERY OF WATER PURIFICATION TO
ECOTECHNOLOGIES
We consider the elements of the theory on biotic mechanisms of water purification,
which were present above, as a scientific basis for better control of water pollution [51].
Among new ecotechnologies, the use of aquatic plants is of special interests. To develop
phytotechnologies, we conducted experiments with 5 species of aquatic plants. Some new
results were reported in a series of publications, including those by E.A.Solomonova and
S.A. Ostroumov [43] and by E.V. Lazareva and S.A. Ostroumov 2009 [12]. E.g., some
previously unknown quantitative parameters of the tolerance of the aquatic macrophyte
Potamogeton crispus L. to the surfactant sodium dodecyl sulphate were determined [43].
Aquatic plants Ceratophyllum demersum induced a removal of the heavy metals Cu, Zn,
Cd, and Pb from water [52, 53].
RELEVANCE OF THE CONCEPTS OF BIOTIC SELF-PURIFICATION OF
WATER TO ISSUES OF WATER QUALITY IN VARIOUS REGIONS
Some of the elements of the theory of involvement of biota in self-purification of
water that were formulated above were used in the analysis of issues of water quality in
various regions of the world, including Canada [6] ; China [9]; Greece [16], Russia [13],
Spain [7] , and U.S.A. [45].
The theory of biotic self-purification of water got a positive evaluation by other
experts, e.g. [10].
We predict that the pressure for having good quality of water and increasing
scarcity of water will lead to finding new examples of relevance of the concepts of biotic
and biocoenotic control of water quality. We predict that new aspects of the key role of
organisms in the control and improvement of water quality both in freshwater and marine
ecosystems will be found, and new methods of applying organisms and new usages of
them in water decontamination (remediation) will be described.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The author thanks V.V. Ermakov, G.M. Kolesov (Russian Academy of Sciences),
G.E. Shulman, A.A. Soldatov and other colleagues at the Institute of Biology of
Southern seas (Sevastopol, Autonomous Republic of Crimea), S.V. Kotelevtsev, O.M.
Gorshkova, A.V. Klepikova (Moscow State University) for discussions and help.
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**
Коды
ГРНТИ: 34 — БИОЛОГИЯ
ВАК РФ: 03.00.00
УДK: 57
Указанные автором: УДК: 557.475:574.5:574.6
Ключевые слова / Key words:
WATER QUALITY ,
AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS ,
SURFACTANTS ,
DETERGENTS ,
BIVALVES ,
HEAVY METALS ,
WATER FILTRATION ,
SELF-PURIFICATION ,
XENOBIOTICS ,
POLLUTANTS ,
ASSESSMENT ,
ENVIRONMENTAL RISKS AND HAZARDS ,
POLLUTION ,
MARINE SYSTEMS ,
FILTER-FEEDERS ,
TRITON X-100 ,
INHIBITORY EFFECTS ,
TDTMA ,
MUSSELS ,
ROTIFERS ,
INHIBITION OF FEEDING ,
TX100 ,
SDS ,
SUBLETHAL CONCENTRATIONS ,
MYTILUS EDULIS ,
MYTILUS GALLOPROVINCIALIS ,
UNIO TUMIDUS ,
LYMNAEA STAGNALIS,
Аннотация
научной статьи по биологии, автор научной работы — OSTROUMOV S.A.
В статье в систематизированном виде представлены обобщения, которые содержат основные элементы качественной теории биотического контроля качества воды и самоочищения воды в пресноводных и морских экосистем. Теория способствует лучшему пониманию вопросов стабильности и регуляции процессов, происходящих в биосфере. Теория подтверждается результатами экспериментальных исследований автора, в которых изучались биологические эффекты при воздействии поверхностно-активных веществ (ПАВ), детергентов и других загрязняющих веществ на водные организмы.
Научная статья по специальности "БИОЛОГИЯ" из научного журнала "Самарская Лука: проблемы региональной и глобальной экологии",
OSTROUMOV S.A.
Научная библиотека КиберЛенинка: http://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/biological-factors-in-control-of-water-quality#ixzz3KTasqsQ8
**
page 4.
Рублика: ОРИГИНАЛЬНЫЕ СТАТЬИ
Самарская Лука: проблемы региональной и глобальной экологии.
2010. – Т. 19, № 4. – С. 4-15.
УДК 557.475:574.5:574.6;
BIOLOGICAL FACTORS IN CONTROL OF WATER QUALITY
© 2010 S.A. Ostroumov [full name with patronimics: Ostroumov Sergey Andreevich]
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of Biology; Moscow 119991;
Поступила 12 февраля 2009 г.
Ostroumov S.A. BIOLOGICAL FACTORS IN CONTROL OF WATER
QUALITY
Abstract: Generalizations presented in this paper represent, in a systematized form, the
basic elements of the qualitative theory of biotic control of water quality and water
self-purication in freshwater and marine ecosystems. The theory contributes to a
better understanding of the issues of stability and regulation in the biosphere. The
theory is supported by the results of the author’s experimental studies of the effects
exerted by surfactants, detergents and other pollutants on aquatic organisms.
Key words: water quality, aquatic ecosystems, surfactants, detergents,
bivalves, surfactants, heavy metals, water filtration, self-purification, xenobiotics,
pollutants, assessment, environmental risks and hazards, pollution, marine systems,
filter-feeders, Triton X-100, inhibitory effects, TDTMA, mussels, rotifers, inhibition
of feeding, TX100, SDS, detergents, sublethal concentrations, Mytilus edulis, Mytilus
galloprovincialis, Unio tumidus, Lymnaea stagnalis;
Остроумов С.А. БИОЛОГИЧЕСКИЕ ФАКТОРЫ КОНТРОЛЯ
КАЧЕСТВА ВОДЫ.
В статье в систематизированном виде представлены обобщения, которые
содержат основные элементы качественной теории биотического контроля
качества воды и самоочищения воды в пресноводных и морских экосистем.
Теория способствует лучшему пониманию вопросов стабильности и регуляции
процессов, происходящих в биосфере. Теория подтверждается результатами
экспериментальных исследований автора, в которых изучались биологические
эффекты при воздействии поверхностно-активных веществ (ПАВ), детергентов
и других загрязняющих веществ на водные организмы.
The text of the paper:
INTRODUCTION
In 2000, A.F. Alimov developed some elements of the theory of the functioning of
aquatic ecosystems [1]. However, this theory did not cover in detail the role of aquatic
biota in the control of water quality. The latter depends on the activities of many aquatic
organisms [2-19].
The role of the ecological factors and processes that contribute to improving water
quality (water self-purication) increases due to the deterioration of natural water quality
[3, 4, 14, 20] and increased anthropogenic impact on water bodies and streams [3, 14, 21-
[page 5]
41]. The self-purication of aquatic ecosystems and water quality formation is controlled
by many factors [8, 15, 17, 20-33, 36–38, 42-50].
The aim of this study is to systematize the knowledge about the polyfunctional role
of aquatic biota (aquatic organisms) in the self-purication of water bodies and streams
and briey present the qualitative theory of the self-purication mechanism of aquatic
ecosystems. The synthesis and system-based organization of the material was made at the
conceptual level without detailed review of extensive literature.
This paper is substantially based on the string of our previous publications,
including [18, 19, 24, 32] and others.
MAJOR PROCESSES CONTRIBUTING TO WATER SELF-PURIFICATION IN
AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
The formation of water quality and its purication in aquatic ecosystems is
governed by physical, chemical [42], and biotic [1, 2, 8, 15, 17, 20, 22, 23, 25, 26, 28, 30,
31, 33, 36–38, 42, 46, 49, 50] processes.
The physical and chemical processes of water self-purication are often controlled
by biological factors or strongly dependent on them. Thus, the redox state of the aquatic
environment, which forms with the participation of H2O2 released by microalgae in the
light [23, 42], is of importance for a decrease in the toxic effect of some pollutants. The
concentration of H2O2 in the Volga was found to equal up to 10–6–10–5 mol/l, which was
supported by measurements made by Dr. E.V. Shtamm and other authors [23, 42].
An important process is gravitational sedimentation of suspended particles both of
biotic and abiotic nature. The sedimentation of phytoplankton depends on water
temperature T. It is equal to 0.3–1.5, 0.4–1.7, and 0.4–2.0 m/day at T = 15, 20, and 25°C,
respectively. According to our data, the sedimentation velocity of the pellets of Lymnaea
stagnalis varies from 0.6 to 1.4 cm/s with a mean value of 0.82 cm/s (at T = 22–24°C)
[23] .
Experiments with the traps for suspended particles showed that the suspended
matter precipitates onto the bed of the River Moskva with a mean rate of 2.3 mg per 1
cm2 of the bed surface per day, that is, 23.1 g per 1 m2 of the bed surface per day; the
proportion of Corg in these sediments is 64.5% [40].
Organic matter oxidation and water ltration by aquatic invertebrate animals (filterfeeders)
are among the major biotic processes contributing to improving water quality
and water purication.
The overall oxidation of organic matter by the entire community can be expressed
either in absolute or in relative units, for example, as the ratio of energy expenditure to
the exchange (total respiration R) by aquatic animals to their total biomass B. This ratio
(R/B)e is referred to as Schroedinger ratio. The subscript “e” is introduced to show that
the estimation is made for the ecosystem as a whole. In the water bodies where primary
production exceeds the total respiration of the community, this ratio averages 2.99–6.1
[1], but it can be even greater in some water bodies. For example, the Schroedinger ratio
is 17.0 in Lake Lyubevoe in the Leningrad province and 33.8 in Lake Zun-Torei east of
Lake Baikal [1]. It is believed that the primary production in these lakes is much less than
the total respiration and a large amount of organic matter delivered from outside is
oxidized here.
Many aquatic organisms contribute to organic matter oxidation, but particular role
in this oxidation belongs to bacteria [31]. The total population of heterotrophic
6
bacterioplankton in the Mozhaisk Reservoir in June and July amounted to (1.36–5.9) ×
109 (samples were taken at a depth of 0.1–1 m), and the population of hydrocarbonoxidizing
bacteria was (0.4–5) × 106 cell/ml [8].
The rate of water ltration by some aquatic animals (e.g., zooplankton, barnacles,
some echinoderms, bivalves, polychaetes, sponges and many others) commonly amount
to 1–9 l/h per 1 g of ash - free dry mass of their body [22, 23]. The dependence of
ltration rate FR, l/h, on the mass of the aquatic animal DW, g, can be described by the
power function [2, 23].
FR = a DWb, (1)
where DW is the dry weight of soft tissues, g.
The values of coefcient a for some bivalve mollusk species vary from 6.8 to 11.6,
and those of coefcient b lie between 0.66 and 0.92 [23].
The rate of water ltration by ve bivalve mollusk species converted to the area of
their gills is about 1.2–1.9 ml/min per 1 cm2 [23].
The total rate of water ltration by populations of macroinvertebrates (e.g., bivalve
mollusks, polychaetes) was estimated at 1–10 m3 per 1 m2 of the bed of the aquatic
ecosystem per 1 day [20, 23]. Additional data on the ltration activity of aquatic animals
is given in [32] (see Tables 2 and 3 in [32]).
THE MAJOR COMPONENTS OF THE SELF-PURIFICATION MECHANISM
OF AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
According to a series of our previous publications, the biological self-purication
mechanism of aquatic ecosystems incorporates three main types of major functional
components [22, 23]: ltration activity of organisms (“lters”) [21]; the mechanisms of
transfer of chemicals from one ecological compartment into another, from one medium
into another (“pumps”); and splitting pollutant molecules (“mills”).
The processes and aquatic organisms that serve as lters [21, 22, 23]:the
invertebrate lter-feeders [2, 44]; the coastal macrophytes, which retain some nutrients
and pollutants delivered into water from neighboring areas; the benthos, which retains
and absorbs part of nutrients and pollutants at the water–bottom sediment interface; the
microorganisms adsorbed on particulates that move within water column due to
sedimentation of particles under the effect of gravity; as a result, the water mass and
microorganisms moves relative to one another, which is equivalent to the situation when
water moves through a porous substrate with microorganisms attached to walls [21].
Precipitation of a suspended particle, that is, its movement relative to water, enhances O2
exchange between the adsorbed bacteria and the aquatic medium [50].
The processes and aquatic organisms that serve as pumps [22, 23] : the transfer of
part of pollutants from the water column to bottom sediments (e.g., sedimentation,
sorption); the transfer of part of pollutants from the water column into the atmosphere
(evaporation); the transfer of part of nutrients from water onto the territory of
neighboring terrestrial ecosystems because of the emergence of imago of aquatic insects;
the transfer of part of nutrients from water onto the territory of neighboring terrestrial
ecosystems through sh-eating birds, which withdraw some sh biomass from water.
The processes and aquatic organisms that serve as mills and split the molecules of
many pollutants [22, 23]: the intracellular enzymatic processes; the processes catalyzed
by extracellular enzymes; the decomposition of pollutants by photolysis: the
7
photochemical processes, sensitized by organic matter; the destruction of pollutants in the
free-radical processes with the participation of biogenic ligands [42].
ENERGY SOURCES FOR BIOTIC SELF-PURIFICATION MECHANISMS OF
AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
As all types of machinery, the biomachinery for water self-purification needs some
reliable sources of energy.
The processes of biotic self-purication of water take energy from the following
sources: photosynthesis, oxidation of autochthonous and allochthonous organic matter;
other redox reactions. Thus, practically all available energy sources are used. A part of
the energy is supplied through oxidation of the components (dissolved and particulate
organic matter) which the system gets rid of [34].
Water self-purication is commonly associated with organic matter oxidation by
aerobic microorganisms. Equally important are anaerobic processes which receive energy
from the transfer of electrons to acceptors other than oxygen. Anaerobic energetics feeds
the metabolism of microorganisms of methanogenic community (decomposition of
organic matter results in the production of H2S, H2, and CH4), and anoxygenic
phototrophic community (with the formation of SO4
2-, H2S, H2, and CH4) [50]. The
products produced by organisms of these communities are used as oxidation substrates by
organisms of other communities, including the organisms that form the group referred to
as a bacterial oxidation lter. The latter lter functions under aerobic conditions and
oxidizes H2, CH4 (methanotrophs), NH3(nitrifiers), H2S (thiobacteria), thiosulfate (thionic
bacteria) [50].
For example, in Lake Mirror (USA), 19.1 g C/m2 of lake surface is oxidized
annually due to phytoplankton respiration, 12.0 due to zooplankton respiration, 1.0 due to
macrophytes, 1.16 due to attached plants, 2.8 due to benthic invertebrates, and 0.2 g C/m2
due to sh. Oxidation by bacteria in bottom sediments and by bacterioplankton accounts
for 17.3 and 4.9 g C/m2 of lake surface [49].
INVOLVEMENT OF MAJOR TAXA IN SELF-PURIFICATION PROCESSES IN
AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
Analysis of facts demonstrated how practically all major groups of organisms
contribute to self-purication of aquatic ecosystems and formation of water quality [11,
17, 20, 22, 23, 25–29, 31, 33–38, 49, 50].
A signicant role belongs to microorganisms [8, 46, 50, 44], phytoplankton [22,
23], higher plants [22, 23], protozoa [11], zooplankton [22, 23, 49], benthic invertebrates
[22, 23, 49], and sh. All these groups contribute largely to the self-purication of
aquatic ecosystems, each group taking part in several processes.
Additional data on the role of aquatic plants were obtained by E.V. Lazareva and
S.A. Ostroumov in their experiments with microcosms [12]. In those experiments it was
shown that aquatic plants accelerated the decrease in concentration of a synthetic
surfactant, sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS), that was added to water [12]). This result is
of interest, as synthetic surfactants are an important group of chemical pollutants of
aquatic environment.
Microbial processes of water self-purication are associated basically with the
activity of heterotrophic aerobic bacteria; however, representatives of practically all
8
major bacterial groups (>30) participate in the key processes of organic matter
destruction and self-purication of water bodies [50].
It is worth mentioning that the microorganisms participating in the destruction of
biopolymers and in water self-purication system feature wide taxonomic diversity [50].
An important role in organic matter destruction and self-purication of aquatic
ecosystems belongs also to eucaryotic microorganisms (protists), in particular, euglenes,
ameboagellates, dinoagellates, infusoria, heteroagellates, cryptomonades,
choanoagellates, metamonads, chitrids, and other organisms ([50] and others).
An important process of water self purication is water ltration by organisms of
many taxa [2, 15, 22, 23, 44]. A detailed list of taxa, including planktonic and benthic
lter-feeders in aquatic ecosystems, is given in [37]. The contributions of different
groups of organisms to C removal from water of eutrophic Lake Esrum (Denmark) in
percent of the total C withdrawn from water are as follows: 24.4% by respiration of
producers, 20.9% by bacterial respiration, 30.7% by respiration of consumers, 4.5%
(appears to be determined not completely) by the respiration of microorganisms in
sediments, 0.14% by the emergence of aquatic insects [49].
The results of the analysis of roles of organisms in aquatic ecosystems made us
conclude that virtually all groups of organisms belonging to procaryotes and eucaryotes
are involved in water self-purication.
THE RELIABILITY OF WATER SELF-PURIFICATION BIOMACHINERY
The reliability of a technical system often relies on the presence of back-up
components. Analysis of aquatic ecosystems shows a similar principle to govern their
functioning. For example, the ltration activity of aquatic animals is doubled so that it is
implemented by two large groups of organisms, i.e., plankton and benthos. Both groups
lter water with a considerable rate [2, 15, 20, 44]. Additionally, benthos duplicates the
activity of the planktonic organisms permanently inhabiting the pelagic zone, since the
larvae of many benthic lter-feeders follow the planktonic way of life. Plankton
incorporates two large groups of the multicellular invertebrate lter-feeders, i.e.,
crustaceans [44] and rotifers [15], both of which implement water ltration. One more
large group of the organisms (protozoa), which have somewhat different type of feeding,
also duplicates the ltration activity of multicellular lter-feeders (crustaceans and
rotifers).
The enzymatic decomposition of pollutants is partially duplicated by the activities
of bacteria and fungi. Almost all aquatic organisms, which are, in someway or another,
capable of consuming and oxidizing dissolved organic matter, perform this function.
Self-regulation of biota is an important component of the reliability of water selfpuri
cation mechanism. The organisms that took active part in water self-purication are
subject to control by other organisms of both lower and higher trophic levels in the food
web. The regulating role of organisms can be effectively studied with the use of the
author’s method of the inhibitor analysis of regulatory interactions in trophic chains [26,
27].
Various forms of signaling, including the information-carrying chemicals
(ecological chemoregulators and chemomediators [28, 29, 31]) play important roles in the
regulation of ecosystems.
Self-control of water quality, water purication and permanent restoration of its
quality is an important component for ecosystem self-stabilization. The restoration of the
9
water quality is vital for ecosystem stability, because the autochthonous and
allochthonous organic matter and nutrients permanently go into water from the
surrounding land, by water of tributaries, atmospheric precipitation, and the solid
particles carried by air [49]. Therefore, water self-purication is as important for an
aquatic ecosystem as DNA repair is for the heredity system. This allows us to regard
water self-purication as an ecological repair in aquatic ecosystems.
The wide range of variations in the ltration activity rates suggests the need to
regulate this activity. The volume of water ltered within one hour and measured in the
body volumes of the lter-feeders amounts to 5 × 106 for nanoagellates and 5 × 105 for
ciliates [49]. Cladocerans lter up to 4–14 ml per one organism per day [49] (according
to [44], 20–130 ml). Copepods and rotifers lter 2–27 [49] and 0.07–0.3 ml/day per
animal, respectively [15]. All these aquatic animals and other lter-feeders remove
suspensions from water.
Thus, all forms of regulation and communication of organisms within community
are of importance for maintaining the reliability of ecosystem functioning. Some
important role in the regulation and communication in aquatic communities belongs to
dissolved substances, ecological chemoregulators and chemomediators [28, 29, 31].
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE RELIABILITY OF WATER
SELF-PURIFICATION BIOMACHINERY AND
AQUATIC ECOSYSTEM STABILITY
In our opinion, filtration activity of filter-feeders is not only a part of water selfpuri
cation process and water quality repair, but also a part of processes that maintain the
stability of the aquatic ecosystem. The latter is performed through the conditioning of
water, which serves as a habitat for many other aquatic species, and “the environmental
tax for the environmental stability” that lter-feeders pay in the form of pellets of organic
material. These pellets form in the organisms of lter-feeders (e.g., bivalve mollusks)
from particulate organic matter they lter out from water and release into the
environment in the form of ‘lumps’. Pellets precipitate onto the bed of water bodies or
streams. The pellets are used as food by many other aquatic organisms, including
zoobenthos and bacteria. The “environmental tax” is surprisingly high as compared with
the share of C of the organic matter included in production. In some cases, it can be
>100%, when calculated as the ratio of the amount of C not assimilated from the food
(that is, C from fecal and pseudofecal pellets) to the amount of C consumed and
assimilated for production.
The formation of pseudofeces by filter-feeding bivalves (that is, the process in
which part of the ltered seston does not pass through the digestive tract of the mollusk
but is prepared to the release into the environment in the form of pellets) begins at rather
low seston concentration. Thus, at the concentration of seston as low as 2.6 mg/l (the
concentration of seston is commonly much greater), mollusks Mytilus edulis (shell size of
1.7 cm) started releasing pseudofecal pellets [23]. Therefore, the formation of
pseudofeces is not the result of excessive concentration of organic matter in the aquatic
environment.
The high “environmental tax” is justied because the lter-feeders will eventually
benet from the high level of stability of water quality characteristics. The entire system
of water self-purication also benets from this, because it requires the wide diversity of
aquatic species to maintain its stability.
10
Aquatic ecosystems serve as one of the most important regulators of global
geochemical cycles (e.g., of water and C), the stability of which withstands the hazard of
global disturbances. Therefore, the reliability of water self-purication biomachinery is
of key importance for the global stability in the biosphere [31].
RESPONSE OF THE ENTIRE BIOMACHINERY OF WATER
SELF-PURIFICATION TO EXTERNAL (ANTHROPOGENIC)
IMPACTS ON THE AQUATIC ECOSYSTEM
Is the rate of functional activity of the biomachinery of water self-purification a
certain constant?
The author has found an essential element of lability in one of the processes
involved in water self-purication, i.e., water ltration by aquatic animals (mollusks and
rotifers) [17, 20–23, 25–27, 29–31, 33–39]. In a series of our experiments, water
ltration was inhibited by sublethal concentrations of many anthropogenic pollutants,
such as synthetic surfactants, surfactant-containing mixed preparations, and heavy
metals (Table). Other pollutants were found to have similar effect on mollusks and
planktonic lter-feeders [5, 23].
Table
Inhibitory effect of various pollutants on suspension withdrawal from water by
filter-feeders. (TX-100 is the non-ionic surfactant Triton X-100; LD is liquid detergent,
SDS is the anionic surfactant, sodium dodecyl sulfate, TDTMA is the cationic surfactant,
tetradecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide ([23] and other publications by the author;
the data on Daphnia magna from [47])
Substances Organism s Concentration, mg/l
TX-100 Unio tumidus 5
TDTMA Crassostrea gigas 0.5
SDS Mytilus edulis >1
and M. galloprovincialis
SDS C. gigas 0.5
Copper sulfate M. galloprovincialis 2
Lead nitrate M. galloprovincialis 20
LD “E” C. gigas 2
LD “Fairy” C. gigas 2
TDTMA Brachionus angularis 0.5
TDTMA B. plicatilis 0.5
TDTMA B. calyciflorus 0.5
SDS Daphnia magna 0.5-10
Recently I.M. Vorozhun and S.A. Ostroumov have shown that the synthetic
surfactant dodecyl sulphate (SDS) has an inhibitory effect on the ability of the planktonic
filter-feeders Daphnia magna to remove phytoplankton from water during their filtration
activity [47].
The population biomass of lter-feeders in polluted aquatic ecosystems decreases,
the result of which is an additional drop in the total ltration activity in such ecosystems
[23].
11
Therefore, the biomachinery of water self-purication processes and its quality
formation is labile [22, 23, 38], and quickly rearranges to adjust to changes in the
environment. The obtained data demonstrate the hazard of a decrease in the efciency of
water self-purication system in aquatic ecosystems subject to anthropogenic impacts
(chemical pollution of water bodies and streams) [17, 20–23, 25–27, 29, 31, 33–36, 38,
39].
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THIS THEORY AND FUNDAMENTAL
ECOLOGICAL CONCEPTS
A key principle in the organization of ecosystems is the interdependence and
mutual usefulness of the organisms involved. This principle is conrmed so often that it
has almost become an axiom and does not attract particular attention. However, its
signicance manifests itself in a new way in the analysis of water self-purication
processes in aquatic ecosystems. The cooperative functioning of procaryote communities
is one example. Another example is the high activity of lter-feeders in removing
suspension from water, during which the amount of suspended organic matter extracted
from water is much greater than it is required for the organism of the filter-feeder [2, 22,
23]. The environmental signicance of suspension removal from water and pellet
formation is analyzed in detail in [23]. The assimilation of food by lter-feeders in the
laboratory experiments was ~50–60% [15], however it can be much lower in nature.
Thus, bivalve mollusks Mytilus galloprovincialis (with a biomass of 2 g) featured the
assimilation that varied within the year from 4.8 to 51% [23], that is, in some cases >95%
of ltered out material was finally released by the mussels in the form of pellets.
In our opinion, the synecological cooperation is one of the functional principles of
the biomachinery of water self-purification.
Biocontrol of water quality (the purication of aquatic ecosystem) is accompanied
by transfer of chemical substances and their constituents from one location within the
aquatic ecosystem into another. The results of data analysis support the earlier formulated
proposition that “a competitive unity of vector and stochastic motion of chemical
elements and the regulation of these processes based on biological matter exist in aquatic
ecosystems” [33]. Conrmations were also obtained for the assumption that the following
phenomena take place in aquatic ecosystems: “a competitive unity”; biological-mattercontrolled
regulation of cyclic and noncyclic paths of chemical elements; as well as the
regulation of the transfer of chemical elements from one phase into another (inter-phase
transfer) and from one organism into another (organism-to-organism transfers) [33].
Suggesting the term “a competitive unity” we mean that it is a unity, a union that
embraces the components that compete against each other. The author emphasizes that
the regulation of many processes of transfer of chemical elements in aquatic ecosystems
is biologically and abiotically controlled, and the roles of both components of that control
— biotic and abiotic — are equally important and integrated with each other. We
suggested a special term that underlines the integrity of both types (biotic and abiotic) of
that control of the transfer of matter – in Russian language this term is “biokosnyj
control” [33].
12
FROM STUDYING THE BIOMACHINERY OF WATER PURIFICATION TO
ECOTECHNOLOGIES
We consider the elements of the theory on biotic mechanisms of water purification,
which were present above, as a scientific basis for better control of water pollution [51].
Among new ecotechnologies, the use of aquatic plants is of special interests. To develop
phytotechnologies, we conducted experiments with 5 species of aquatic plants. Some new
results were reported in a series of publications, including those by E.A.Solomonova and
S.A. Ostroumov [43] and by E.V. Lazareva and S.A. Ostroumov 2009 [12]. E.g., some
previously unknown quantitative parameters of the tolerance of the aquatic macrophyte
Potamogeton crispus L. to the surfactant sodium dodecyl sulphate were determined [43].
Aquatic plants Ceratophyllum demersum induced a removal of the heavy metals Cu, Zn,
Cd, and Pb from water [52, 53].
RELEVANCE OF THE CONCEPTS OF BIOTIC SELF-PURIFICATION OF
WATER TO ISSUES OF WATER QUALITY IN VARIOUS REGIONS
Some of the elements of the theory of involvement of biota in self-purification of
water that were formulated above were used in the analysis of issues of water quality in
various regions of the world, including Canada [6] ; China [9]; Greece [16], Russia [13],
Spain [7] , and U.S.A. [45].
The theory of biotic self-purification of water got a positive evaluation by other
experts, e.g. [10].
We predict that the pressure for having good quality of water and increasing
scarcity of water will lead to finding new examples of relevance of the concepts of biotic
and biocoenotic control of water quality. We predict that new aspects of the key role of
organisms in the control and improvement of water quality both in freshwater and marine
ecosystems will be found, and new methods of applying organisms and new usages of
them in water decontamination (remediation) will be described.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The author thanks V.V. Ermakov, G.M. Kolesov (Russian Academy of Sciences),
G.E. Shulman, A.A. Soldatov and other colleagues at the Institute of Biology of
Southern seas (Sevastopol, Autonomous Republic of Crimea), S.V. Kotelevtsev, O.M.
Gorshkova, A.V. Klepikova (Moscow State University) for discussions and help.
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