Abstract:
The discharge of industrial waste water on freshwater
resources is on the increase worldwide, including in South Africa. The
study aimed at assessing the response of phytoplankton upon exposure
to high levels of nutrients along the Tshinane River Limpopo
Province. The study showed different phytoplankton assemblages
with different changes in physico-chemical levels. Environmental
factors do have a noticeable effect on phytoplankton abundance as it
was shown by statistical analysis. Results computed by the
Czekanowski coefficient showed that various environmental factors
components contributed to the different composition and types of
phytoplankton abundance (p<0.05). When environmental factors
showed fluctuation (Increase or decrease) a different type of plankton
was found to be tolerant to those levels. A total of 64 species were
identified upstream and 103 species identified downstream.
Phytoplankton spectrums were recorded from six taxonomic groups
namely Chrysophyta, Dinophyta, Chlorophyta, Bacillariophyta,
Cyanophyta and Dinophyta. The dominant taxonomic group was
Chlorophyta (Downstream) and Bacillariophyta was the dominant
phytoplankton upstream. The results supports the assumption that an
increase in nutrients lead to a diverse phytoplankton species even if all
the other parameters are within the South African Water Quality
Range for Aquatic ecosystems. This shows that tea processing waste
has a minimal impact on the ecosystem health of Tshinane River and
the river is able to recover from the nutrient enrichment.
