Protistas heterotróficos como ferramenta para avaliação da qualidade da água em reservatórios urbanos da Mata Atlântica

Abstract

The objective of this work was to carry out studies to select biological indicators of water quality from populations of heterotrophic protists (flagellates, ameboids and ciliates), having as final product a protocol model to be followed technically by surface water quality assessors and academics in scientific studies. The study area that served as reference for the construction of the protocol was the urban reservoir (Lagoa de Pituaçu), in Salvador (BA), located inside a fragment of Mata Atlântica. The construction of the protocol consisted of consulting data published in the study area and drawing up a list of taxa identified with their main morphological and bioindication characteristics. The protocol was organized with a scoring table, involving the heterotrophic protists, the most sensitive, those with infrequent frequencies in the samples, the most tolerant ones with the highest frequency. The table presented taxa like Blepharisma, Chilodonela, Halteria and Oxytricha (Ciliophora) with a maximum score equal to 5 and classified as sensitive, while some taxa like Aspidisca, Tetrahynema (Ciliophora), Bodo (Euglenozoa), Centropyxis (Amebozoa) and Actinosphaerium (Heliozoa), with a minimum score of 1 and defined as tolerant. Several taxa between 1 and 5 points were listed, among them: Vorticella (Ciliophora), Arcella (Amebozoa) and Peranema (Euglenozoa). At the end, a water quality assessment index of the organisms identified in the Pituaçu lagoon was presented. The research expanded knowledge about the various taxa present in lakes and reservoirs in tropical areas, especially in the Mata Atlântica biome.