Year: 1985
Type: article
Abstract: The Velz method was used to predict dissolved oxygen concentrations in a stream receiving municipal and industrial effluents. Because the method ignores biological processes of reaeration, it was possible to estimate community metabolism using the difference between observed and predicted dissolved oxygen. Net productivity in the unpolluted reach was 34.9 g O2/m2 • day and ranged from 1.9 to 37.0 g O2/m2 • day in the polluted section. Community respiration showed little variation, with a value of 30.6 g O2/m2 • day in the unpolluted reach and values from 26.2 to 50.0 g O2/m2 • day in the polluted stretch. The P/R ratio decreased downstream from 1.14 in the unpolluted stretch to 0.06 in the polluted reaches, but these variations were not related to municipal waste input. Instead, the sharp decline in productivity downstream was correlated with increasing conductivity and was ultimately attributed to sodium chloride input.
Author: Richard Hunter
Language: English
Subfield: Ecology
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W2115870406