INTRODUCTION

The Dnipro basin environment management and monitoring system that is being created within the IDRC project requires objective information on the condition of water ecosystems. A key element of the system is the background monitoring block introduced to gather information on the condition of water bodies and waterways where anthropogenic impact is minimal. Background data must provide a necessary basis for assessing anthropogenic transformation of water ecosystems in the Dnipro basin.

Water bodies and waterways on protected natural territories fit background monitoring requirements the most. The Berezina Biosphere Reserve (BBR) was selected to test the principles and methods of background monitoring. The choice of BBR was based on a number of factors, the most important of which was that here anthropogenic impact was the smallest among all territories in Belarus. It was also chosen because the reserve had a permanent station of the Republican Environmental Monitoring Center (REMC), which could serve as a basis for the background monitoring system.

The project’s goal is to develop an integrated monitoring system for estimating the state and biodiversity of water ecosystems on protected natural territories in the Dnipro basin based on hydrobiological and radioecological monitoring and to create a system of background monitoring of water ecosystems.

A one-year monitoring cycle has produced materials that characterize the contribution of the aerial component in the pollution of BBR ecosystems, radiation environment in the reserve, hydrochemical characteristics of the studied waterways, species diversity and structure of the plankton, periphyton and benthos associations of model biotopes and ecosystems, and levels of productive and destructive processes in BBR’s waterways. Higher water plants as well as the fauna and flora of the riverside zone have been studied. Bioinduction methods that are widely used in hydrobiological research and their applicability in a background monitoring system have been assessed. A concept of functioning of the system of background monitoring of water ecosystems has been developed.

This report summarizes key project results. The full materials obtained during the project are listed in the annex and the collective study “Integrated ecological monitoring of the waterways of the Berezina Biosphere Reserve”, which is being prepared for printing.

Different sections of this report have been prepared by the following authors: A.P. Ostapenia (Introduction, Conclusion and Section 1), D.D. Stavrovsky (Section 2), G.M. Tischikov (Section 5, Item 6.3), V.P. Semenchenko (Section 7), I.I. Matvienko (Section 5), G.M. Germenchuk (Section 4), B.B. Kozeruk (Section 3), N.A. Zhdanova (Section 5), М. S. Golovko (Section 5), V.M. Natarov (Section 2), А. О. Lukashuk (Section 2), T.M. Mikheieva (Item 6.1.1), Y.V. Lukyanova (Item 6.1.1), R. А. Derengovskaya (Item 6.2), L.V. Nikitina (Items 6.1.3 and 6.2), R.Z. Kovalevskaya (Item 6.1.4), Т. А. Makarevich (подраздел 6.2), M.D. Moroz (Item 6.3), Y.G. Giginiak (Item 6.3), V.V. Vezhnovets (Item 6.1.2), G.V. Vynayev (Item 6.4).

ANNOTATION

This report summarizes key results of the project "DEVELOPMENT OF AN INTEGRATED MONITORING SYSTEM FOR ESTIMATING THE STATE AND BIODIVERSITY OF WATER ECOSYSTEMS ON PROTECTED NATURAL TERRITORIES IN THE DNIPRO BASIN".

This report presents materials that characterize the contribution of the aerial component in the pollution of BBR ecosystems, radiation environment in the reserve, hydrochemical characteristics of the studied waterways, species diversity and structure of the plankton, periphyton and benthos associations of model biotopes and ecosystems, and levels of productive and destructive processes in BBR’s waterways. Higher water plants as well as the fauna and flora of the riverside zone have been studied. Bioinduction methods that are widely used in hydrobiological research and their applicability in a background monitoring system have been assessed. A concept of functioning of the system of background monitoring of water ecosystems has been developed.

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.

CONCLUSION

The project has produced a large array of materials characterizing biodiversity in the Berezina Biosphere Reserve's waterways. Such biodiversity indicators as species diversity, structural organization of phyto-, zoo- and bacterial plankton, benthos and periphyton, and initial production and destruction of plankton have been studied. These data were obtained against the background of studying hydrochemical features of individual water ecosystems and assessing the radiation and atmospheric components of their possible pollution.

It must be stressed that extensive materials were obtained for the first time as a result of a unified, comprehensive program where all samples were taken at the same sections of waterways at the same time, which is crucial for assessing the structural and functional organization of the ecosystems as a whole.

The studies performed within the project have greatly broadened our knowledge of the species diversity of BBR water ecosystems. They revealed 325 species and intraspecific taxa of algae in phytoplankton and periphyton of waterways (Table 11). Algoflora is represented predominantly by Bacillariophyta and Chlorophyta. Recorded in bottom, plankton and periphyton associations were 652 species and forms of invertebrate, predominantly Rotifera and the larva and imago stages of water insects. The widest species diversity was recorded among Diptera – 106 species, Coleoptera – 97 species, and caddis flies (Trichoptera) – 61 species.

Flora analysis on the studied waterways revealed 123 species of water, riverside-water and near-water vascular plants.

An important feature of associations of invertebrate in BBR waterways is that they include species of northern and even arctic-alpine origin. It can be supposed that they are glacial relics that survived the last phase of the Dnipro glaciation and the Moscow glacier period. Thus, BBR water ecosystems serve as a link between today’s water faunas of Northern Europe and Belarus.

The taxonomic basis of most waterways in the Berezina Biosphere Reserve is comprised of oxyphilic species that prefer water or brook ecosystems. This, along with materials characterizing oxygen and hydrochemical conditions, indicates that the studied water ecosystems are in good condition.

Of the total number of species found in BBR waterways, 30 species of algae and 41 species invertebrate were registered in Belarus for the first time; many species of flora and fauna are rare for Belarus (Table 11). This indicates the great value of the Berezina and its tributaries for preserving the biodiversity of the Berezina Biosphere Reserve, Belarus and the entire Europe.

Table 11

Species diversity of algae and invertebrate of the Berezina Biosphere Reserve's waterways

The studies fully confirm the comparatively low level of anthropogenic disturbance of BBR water ecosystems. Analysis of perennial materials shows that the concentrations and fallouts of air pollutants are relatively small. Therefore, aerial pollution transport has no significant adverse ecological effect on BBR. Radioactive contamination of surface water and bottom sediment was insignificant even immediately after the Chernobyl nuclear power station disaster and remains so today. Results of hydrochemical studies allow classifying the studied waterways as low-pollution, with hydrochemical properties characteristic of the natural composition of the region’s surface water.

This, and the hydrological and hydrochemical diversity of waterways draining unique marsh and forest landscapes, high biodiversity of flora and fauna, and the presence of rare species, confirm the correct choice of BBR as a testing area for background monitoring of the Dnipro basin’s water ecosystems.

As is well known, the main difference between background and local monitoring is that the former is performed in the conditions of a low level and insignificant gradients of pollution. In these conditions, the numerous saprobity indices widely used in hydrobiological studies, as a rule, do not work. Comparative analysis of numerous properties of structural organization of phyto- and zooplankton, benthos and periphyton as indicators of water condition showed that variation of most of these properties might have different directions in different seasons, was characterized by high variability and not always could be interpreted as a pollution indicator. In undisturbed, low-pollution ecosystems, variability of structural organization of associations reflectshte natural diversity of biotopes and ecological factors.

Therefore, one of the principal tasks of background monitoring of water ecosystems is to assess the range of variation or standard reaction of different properties of structural and functional organization of water life associations. This task requires rather highly skilled researchers, and first of all taxonomists of different groups of water organisms. Thus, background monitoring cannot be effective if performed by the reserve’s personnel alone.

The general scheme of the system of background monitoring of BBR water ecosystems is shown on Fig. 32.

The system of background monitoring of BBR water ecosystems must include several elements. First, these are the Background Monitoring Station (BMS) and Background Monitoring Information Center (BMIC) located within BBR. The station must have field sampling and initial sample handling equipment, and the information center must be equipped with a computer and modem. It is desirable that the station’s personnel (tentatively 3 or 4 people) include an expert in one of the main groups of organisms and a computer and information technology expert. The background monitoring system must combine groups of highly skilled researchers working in different institutions outside of the reserve. During the project, such groups took shape in the Republican Radiation Control and Monitoring Center of the Department of Hydrometeorology of the Ministry of Nature of Belarus (RRCMC), Belarus State University (BSU) and Institute of Zoology of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus.

The samples are taken by BMS personnel and, after initial handling (sorting, fixing, first-day chemical analysis), delivered to the appropriate groups: RRCMC (benthos and hydrochemistry), BSU (phytoplankton and periphyton), or the Institute of Zoology (zooplankton and invertebrate). Sample treatment and analysis results are sent by modem to BMIC, which then creates an environmental background monitoring database, performs comprehensive data analysis and passes the information to consumers.