Minireview: Protozoa as Bioindicators for Assessment of Water Quality

Articles in Press

Document Type : Review articles

Author

Zoology Department, Faculty of Science, Ain Shams university

Abstract

Protozoa are unicellular, eukaryotic organisms that have typical internal structures like animal cells and perform all animal-like functions. They are essential components of aquatic ecosystems and soil biodiversity, contributing significantly to energy transfer to higher trophic levels and organic matter decomposition. They're abundantly present in a variety of environmental conditions, and worldwide distribution and are relatively sensitive to different contaminants. Protozoa constitute a promising candidate for bioindication of water quality and soil health. The purpose of the present review is to highlight the importance of protozoa as bioindicators for water quality monitoring. The basic aim of bioindication is the use of biota as indicators of environmental conditions. Three broad categories of bioindicators can be recognized based on their aims and objectives: environmental, ecological, and biodiversity indicators. There are seven key advantages of Protista bioindicators, namely: environmental sensitivity, functional importance, distribution, size and numbers, response times, ease of analysis, and preservation potential. As concerns water pollution, protozoa seem to be an excellent tool to assess both toxicity and pollution of effluent water of treatment plants, and water quality in both freshwater and marine ecosystems.

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Egyptian Journal of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 16 July 2024

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