الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract Water pollution is one of the environmental and public health problems in Egypt. The impact of pollution on macrobenthic invertebrates in five stations on the River Nile at Greater Cairo (from Helwan to El-Qanater El-Khiria) was studied during the period from May, 2013 to February, 2014. Physicochemical water characteristics and some heavy metals in water and sediments were analyzed. The highest average number (6915 org./m2) of macrobenthic invertebrates was recorded during spring, while the lowest (1925 org./m2) was recorded during summer. Annelida, Mollusca and Arthropoda were the most dominant groups representing about 62 %, 34 % and 4 % respectively. Twenty two species and taxa were recorded; Mollusca (13 species), Annelida (7 species) and Arthropoda (2 species). All the heavy metals concentrations were within the permissible limits except iron concentrations at El-Qanater El- Khiria, Helwan and Shobra due to the effect of discharged industrial wastes. Arthropoda revealed the highest positive correlation with iron and zinc concentrations in water and with the concentrations of manganese, zinc, copper and cadmium in sediments. The principal component analysis (PCA) showed that the most dominant annelid Limnodrilus spp. had a positive correlation with cadmium and negative correlation with all other heavy metals. This indicates that this species can resist the high concentrations of cadmium. |