Ecological assessment of water quality in the Kabul River, Pakistan, using statistical methods

Abstract

We identified 209 species of algae and cyanobacteria at 4 sites in the Kabul River. Green algae, diatoms, and charophytes dominated in the river, which reflects regional features of agricultural activity. Species richness and algal abundance increased down the river. The Water Quality Index characterizes the quality of water down the river as medium to bad. The index of saprobity S reflects Class III water quality. The Water Ecosystem Sustainability Index (WESI) shows contamination with nutrients. According to the River Pollution Index (RPI), waters in the river have low alkalinity and low salinity, and are contaminated with nutrients. Pearson coefficients showed that water temperature plays a major role in the total species richness distribution (0.93*) and in the green algae distribution (0.89*), while cyanobacteria were stimulated also by water salinity (0.91*). Stepwise regression analysis indicated water temperature as the major regional factor that determines riverine algal diversity. Surface plots and Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) showed that salinity, nitrates, temperature, and Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) can be defined as major factors affecting algal diversity. Dendrites mark the upper site of the Warsak Dam as the source of the community species diversity. Bioindication methods can give relevant and stable results of water quality and self-purification assessment that can be employed to monitor the regional water quality.

Relationship of pollution with distribution of Mermaid's tresses (Spirogyra) in different localities of river Kabul

“…Spirogyra was also a dominant genus in trems of species recorded by [18][19][20], stated that chlorophyceae is a major class with species, majority of which belong to genus Spirogyra the most common genus, which agree with our findings. Similarly [21][22][23][24], also reported Spirogyra a leading genus with speices which supports our present data. Spirogyra is the most frequent genus of freshwater green algae.…”

Bioindication of aquatic habitats with diatom algae in the Pamir Mountains, Tajikistan

“…12 We studied earlier the influence of habitats altitude on species richness of freshwater algae and find that diversity is increased with increasing altitude 14 up to two thousand meters a.s.l. Our list of diatom species in Pamir is comparable with richness of diatoms in close placed and well studied mountain regional floras such as South-Tajik Depression or Caucasus, [15][16][17] but in the regions where algal diversity study are in initial stage like Kabul River basin in Pakistan 18,19 the Pamir diversity of diatoms looks like much richer. Bioindication properties were found for 438 taxa of diatoms from Pamir aquatic habitats.…”

“…In contrary, even in close related South-Tadjik Depression algal flora 15 we can see of anthropogenic influence doing mostly from agriculture. In such low studied regions with high agricultural and other human activity, as the Kabul River valley with tributaries from Hindu Kush to Peshawar, 18,19 can be seen decreasing of algal species richness with increasing of water pollution by salinity and organic matters. Therefore, the Pamir diatom algal flora can represent the regional background diversity for comparing of closely spaced high mountain habitats.…”

Diversity and Seasonal Dynamics of Chlorophyta Reichenbach, 1828 and Charophyta Migula, 1890 Algae in the Swat River Basin, Pakistan

“…The algal diversity research in the rivers of the southern Hindu Cush region is at its initial stage. In Pakistan, our knowledge of regional algal diversity is far from being exhaustive, whereas the algal communities of some rivers such as the Swat River and Kabul River up to its inflow to the Indus River have been studied better [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. It is very important to reveal the distribution of different algal taxonomic and ecologic groups in the areas like Upper Indus Basin because the biodiversity of algal communities there was formed under natural climatic and anthropogenic impacts.…”