Protocol for Ecological Risk Assessment in Aquatic Environment Considering the Jacuí River Environmental Monitoring Program , São Jerônimo (RS)

Abstract

The contribution of this work is to present protocol for ecological risk assessment in an aquatic environment using data derived from environmental monitoring programs. The location focused by this study was a segment of the Jacuí River, in the town of São Jerônimo – RS, Brazil, which was assessed by applying an environmental monitoring program. The line of evidence recorded from the abiotic compartments surface water and sediments was considered an explanatory variable. The chemical evidence stemmed from the presence of Hg, Pb and Zn, while the ecotoxicological evidence resulted from aquatic toxicity tests using Ceriodaphinia dubia for surface water and Hyalella azteca for sediments. The biological evidence from the Shannon-Weaver index, species richness, equitability and numerical density data in zooplanktonic and benthonic communities was considered the response variable. The ecological risk (Low, Medium, and High) was characterized by the association with environmental quality (Great, Warning, and Critical), established by the lines of evidence recorded. The results have shown that it is possible to use environmental monitoring programs to evaluate of ecological risk assessment, if they have chemical and ecotoxicological data required by environmental laws, and monitoring data of resident biota.