1. Project Organization

1. PROJECT ORGANIZATION

The project was planned as a one-year cycle of monitoring the most typical water ecosystems of the Berezina Biosphere Reserve.

The objects and points of background monitoring were selected after analysing the reserve’s hydrological network and the degree to which its different elements had been studied. The choice was based on the assumption that monitoring objects must be sufficiently typical for BBR, reflect the diversity of its water ecosystems and be accessible for study.

There were 9 monitoring sites.

Six sites were located on the main waterway draining the territory of the Berezina Biosphere Reserve, the Berezina River.

Site 1: At the reserve’s northern border near the village of Berezino-Lipskoye. Distance from the mouth: 554 km. Here the Berezina is a typical lowland river. The flood-land is overgrown with shrubs. The riverbed is in a natural condition, meandering, non-braided. The banks are low, mostly water-logged. The bottom is sandy, in places peaty. Minor anthropogenic load on the river is possible from upstream settlements’ domestic waste water and agricultural runoff.

Site 2: In the center of the reserve near the village of Brody. Distance from the mouth: 508 km. Hydrological and landscape characteristics are close to Site 1. A site of permanent, perennial monitoring of the Department of Hydrometeorology of the Ministry of Nature of Belarus.

Site 3: The Berezina where it flows into Lake Palik. Distance from the mouth: 476 km. Due to backwater from the lake, the current is much slower and the river is deeper than upstream. Bottom sediment is mostly silt. The ecosystem at this site is intermediate river-lake type.

Site 4: The Berezina where it exits Lake Palik. Distance from the mouth: 468 km. The river’s last site integrating all drainage from the Berezina biosphere reserve.

Sites 5 and 6 located outside of the reserve were included in the monitoring system in order to compare the condition of water ecosystems in the reserve and on the section of the river where there is strong anthropogenic influence. These sites are located upstream and downstream of Borisov, the major pollutant of the Berezina that is nearest to the reserve.

Site 5: Upstream of Borisov. Distance from the mouth: 416 km. The bottom is sand. Depth is between 1.5 and 2.0 m.

Site 6: Downstream of Borisov. Distance from the mouth: 400 km. The river here is polluted with waster water from Borisov.

Three left-hand tributaries of the Berezina were selected as water ecosystems typical for BBR.

Site 7: The Berezina’s left-hand tributary, a brook named Krasnogubka. A forest brook located within the reserve from source to outlet. Unlike most of the reserve’s waterways and water bodies, Krasnogubka drains moraine landscape and not water-logged ground. Anthropogenic contamination is possible only by aerial fall.

Site 8: The Serguch Canal near flowing into the Berezina. This site closes the Berezina Water System, which includes Lakes Olschitsa, Plavno, Manets and Domzheritskoye and the Serguch River. The system is the largest left-hand tributary of the Berezina within the reserve and significantly affects water quality in the Berezina.

Site 9: The Smolianka River, a left-hand tributary of the Berezina. This river originates within the Domzheritskoye Marsh, one of Europe’s largest up-river marshes. Anthropogenic impact is minimal, mostly aerial fall. The Smolianka’s water is high in humic substances. The banks are low and water-logged. Bottom sediment is silt. The riverbed is being overgrown with higher water plants.

Thus, the objects and points of background monitoring cover BBR’s key water systems and reflect the features of structural and functional organization of their ecosystems that are typical for the reserve. Monitoring sites on the Berezina’s tributaries, as a rule, are located close to their outlets, which will allow obtaining integral characteristics of ecosystems that have been influenced by the entire aggregate of factors and features of their drainage areas.

Monitoring points are shown on Figure 1, and some of their characteristics are listed in Table 1.

Table 1. Main characteristics of waterway sites in the Berezina basin

* VR – vegetative remains

The report is based on materials were collected during comprehensive expeditions that covered all seasons: autumn (October 18–24, 2001); winter (February 18 – March 1 2002); spring (April 22–28, 2002); summer (June 17–23 2002).

The field studies included:

1. Measuring water temperature and oxygen content.

2. Sampling water for hydrochemical analysis of electric conductivity, chromaticity, bichromatic oxidation, suspended matter, main ions, biogenic elements, microelements (heavy metals), and such pollutants as synthetic surface-active substances, oil products and common phenols.

3. Gathering material for studying the species composition and quantitative characteristics of phyto-, zoo- and bacterial plankton.

4. Gathering material for assessing the concentration of seston and chlorophyll-a in it.

5. Gathering material for studying the species composition and quantitative characteristics of periphyton associations – (phyto-, zoo- and bacterial components) and asessing total mass of periphyton, content of chlorophyll-a in it, mineral elements and other integral characteristics.

6. Measuring potential initial production (at the optimal light depth).

7. Measuring the rate of destruction of organic substances in water and 5-day biochemical oxygen consumption (BOC₅).

8. Gathering material for studying the species composition and quantitative characteristics of bottom fauna.

Sediment samples 0.5 liter each fixed with Utermel solution were used to assess quantitative development of phytoplankton. Quantity registration and biomass assessment of phytoplankton organisms were done using conventional methods.

Fig. 1. Map of waterways of the Berezina Biosphere Reserve. Figures indicate monitoring sites

Zooplankton samples were taken using a Jedi plankton net (sieve No. 88) and fixed with 2% formalin solution. Sediment plankton samples were used to register Rotifera.

Water insects were gathered by mowing macrophytes growing in the river near the banks with a standard-sized hydrobiological scoop net. Also, traps were used in the form of a plastic container (1.5-2.0 liters) with a funnel and a 20-mm opening. The traps were exposed to water for up to 2 days.

Productive and destructive characteristics of plankton were assessed using the conventional method of isolated volumes (the “bottles method”) in an oxygen modification. Seston concentration was measured gravimetrically using 1-micrometer nuclear filters. Chlorophyll-a content in seston was measured using the spectrophotometric method in acetone extracts [1]. The number of pheopigments was measured using the Lorenzen method [2].

Quantitative assessments of different structural parameters of periphyton were performed in aliquots of the same sample. Three parallel samples (substrate – Sagittaria sagittifolia L.) were taken at each site. Quantitative ratio of periphyton components was assessed using direct phyto- and zooperiphyton counting methods with a light microscope, and for bacterial periphyton, epifluorescent microscope, followed by biomass calculation. The detritus component was assessed based on the difference between total periphyton mass, determined gravimetrically, and biota biomass (hyphomycet biomass was not included). Total periphyton mass was determined after drying at 75 ⁰С until constant weight. To convert wet biota mass into dry, it was assumed that dry mass was 15% of wet mass for bacteria, 10% for invertebrates, and 35% for algae, taking into account the predominance of diatoms.

Quantitative zoobenthos samples were taken from solid river soils by a pipe dredge with trapping area of 40 сm². Four or five core samples (depending on the density of organisms) 20-25 cm in height were taken at each site, ensuring the sampling of bottom organisms from the entire layer of soil penetrated by them. Qualitative zoobenthos samples were taken with a hydrobiological scraper. Macrozoobenthos samples were rinsed in a No. 23 gauze scoop. Rinsed samples containing sand were levigated. The samples were analyzed alive; organisms were fixed with a 4% formalin solution. Biomass of individual organisms and/or groups of macrozoobenthos was determined by weighing on torsion scales after drying on filter paper until no wet spots were left. Biomass per 1 m² of bottom area was then calculated. The quantity and biomass of large mollusca in the quantitative samples were not taken into account.

Water quality bioindication by macrozoobenthos associations was performed using conventional methods – the Woodywiss biotic index (by taxonomic diversity and indicative values of water life) and the Goodnight-Whitley index (by relative quantity of Oligochaeta). Classification of water quality in waterways by hydrobiological characteristics was performed in accordance with the standards effective in the Republic of Belarus [3].

Methods of assessing water quality by plankton associations are described in the appropriate sections below.

Hydrochemical and radiation analysis and atmospheric air pollution assessment were performed using the methods accepted as standard in the system of the Department of Hydrometeorology of the Ministry of Nature of Belarus.

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