Planktonic Rotifer Assemblages of the Danube River at Budapest after the Red Sludge Pollution in Hungary

• Published in: Bulletin of environmental contamination and toxicology 2011-08, Vol.87 (2), p.124-128
• Main Authors: Scholll, Karoly, Szovenyi, Gergely
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alkalinity; Animals; Aquatic Pollution; Autumn; Biodiversity; Chemical wastes; Communities; Contamination; Density; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Environmental Monitoring; Freshwater; Hungary; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; Industrial Waste; Plankton; Pollution; Population Density; Rivers; Rivers - chemistry; Rotifera; Rotifera - physiology; Seasons; Sludge; Soil Science & Conservation; Species richness; Spills; Toxicology; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollutants, Chemical - toxicity; Water pollution; Water Pollution Control; Zooplankton - physiology
• ISSN: 0007-4861; 1432-0800
• DOI: 10.1007/s00128-011-0331-y

In the autumn of 2010 an industrial red sludge spill occurred in Hungary. The toxic chemical waste with high alkalinity (pH 13.5) reached the Danube 2 days later, where no change was expected because of the high level of dilution. The planktonic rotifer assemblages of the Danube were investigated at Budapest during the contamination. The median of community density decreased from 500 ind. 100 L −1 to zero, the species richness from 3.00 to 0.00, Shannon–Weaver diversity from 1.10 to 0.00 after the arrival of the contamination. The rotifer assemblages seemed to have recovered after 3 weeks, but the initial levels of diversity and density were not reached again.