Diatom Communities as Bioindicators of Human Disturbances on Suburban Soil Quality in Arid Marrakesh Area (Morocco)

• Published in: Water, air, and soil pollution Vol. 232; no. 4
• Main Authors: Minaoui, Farah, Hakkoum, Zineb, Douma, Mountasser, Mouhri, Khadija, Loudiki, Mohammed
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01-04-2021; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Agricultural wastes; Algae; Analysis; Anthropogenic factors; Aquatic ecosystems; Arid regions; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Bioindicators; Biomass; Chemical properties; Chemicophysical properties; Climate Change/Climate Change Impacts; Diatoms; Disturbances; Earth and Environmental Science; Environment; Environmental monitoring; Human influences; Hydrogeology; Indicator organisms; Indicator species; Indicators (Biology); Land use; Marine microorganisms; Microflora; Mine wastes; Nutrients; Organic carbon; Organic matter; Phosphates; Phytoplankton; Plankton; Purification; Quality assessment; Sewage; Soil; Soil analysis; Soil conditions; Soil microorganisms; Soil pollution; Soil quality; Soil Science & Conservation; Soils; Solid impurities; Solid wastes; Species richness; Suburban areas; Surveying; Total organic carbon; Wastewater; Wastewater treatment; Water quality; Water quality assessments; Water Quality/Water Pollution; Pollution; Quality assessment; Diatoms; Peri-urban soil; Diversity; Anthropogenic activity
• ISSN: 0049-6979; 1573-2932
• DOI: 10.1007/s11270-021-05094-3

Diatoms, unicellular siliceous microalgae, are one of the most known groups of eukaryotic algae, commonly used as bioindicators for assessing water quality in aquatic ecosystems. Conversely, studies on terrestrial diatoms as potential bioindicators of soil quality are rather scarce. This study aims to assess the arid suburban soils quality of Marrakesh disturbed by various anthropogenic activities using diatom communities as bioindicators. The sampling of soil and physicochemical measurements were carried out at six sites with different land use. A total of 26 diatom taxa has been identified with 13 genera. The highest species richness and algal biomass were recorded in agricultural irrigated soils with treated wastewater dominated by pollution-tolerant species of
Nitzschia
(71.43%). In canonical correspondence analysis, suburban soils were subdivided into three groups depending on the chemical properties and diatom composition. The diatom diversity was significantly correlated with the total organic carbon (TOC), P-PO4, and N-NH4+ contents. While diversity and biomass were significantly lower in the soils affected by municipal and mining solid wastes, the input of organic matter and nutrients from treated wastewater appears to have a positive impact on the soil microflora and its richness. This first exploratory survey showed that diatom communities were more sensitive to the anthropic disturbances on urban soil and could be used as bioindicators of the quality and soils conditions.