The Aquatic Biota Characteristics Of Taihu Lake And Its Relationship With The Derivation Of Lake Water Quality Criteria In China

The aquatic biota characteristics of Taihu Lake in China and Great Lakes in North America were analyzed via literature review in this study. And the species selection and data requirements of water quality criteria derivation documents from America, Canada, Europe, Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand were studied. Considering the aquatic biota characteristics of Taihu Lake, the species selection and data requirements for the Chinese lakes water quality criteria including aquatic life criteria, human health criteria, wildlife criteria and sediment quality criteria were determined. This study would provide theory basis for species selection in the procedure of water quality criteria derivation and might be of great importance for the water quality criteria research in China.The results revealed that there are 442 species in 146 families in the Taihu Lake, and the species numbers of fish, zoobenthos, zooplankton, phytoplankton and hydrophyte were 107species in 25 families,66 species in 21 families,103 species in 37 families,81 species in 29 families and 85 species in 34 families respectively. For the whole Chinese fresh aquatic biota, the species numbers of fish, zoobenthos, zooplankton, phytoplankton and hydrophyte were 1023,927,2716,9000 and 437, respectively. Cyprinid fish being the dominant species was the main characteristic of both Taihu Lake and Chinese freshwater fish fauna. The North America Great lakes contained fish 134 species, zoobenthos 165 species, zooplankton 132 species and phytoplankton 1456 species, and the phytoplankton species number was much more larger than others. The dominant species in the Great Lakes fish fauna were cyprinid and Salmonidae.Species selection and data requirements for deriving water quality criteria in America, Europe, Canada, Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand were extensively studied. For the aquatic life criteria, aquatic organisms at least in eight different families from three phyla were needed in America; in Canada, at least three fish, three invertebrates, and one aquatic macrophytes (or algae) were needed; in Australian and New Zealand, at least five species from four different taxonomic groups were needed and at least four species in Netherlands; and in Europe at least ten species from eight different taxonomic groups were needed. For the human health criteria, the Species selection and data requirements were not clearly determined. For the wildlife criteria, two mammalian species and three avian species were needed in America, and in Canada at least three mammalian species and two avian species were needed. For the sediment quality criteria, at least two invertebrates were needed in Canada, and in Netherlands and Europe at least ten benthic invertebrates were needed.The species selection and data requirements needed in the water quality derivation procedure for Chinese lakes were determined as followed. For aquatic life criteria, the aquatic organisms at least from eight families needed were cyprinidae, salangidae, chironomidae, corbiculidae, tubificidae, branchionidae, daphnidae, and one sensitive hydrophyte or algae. For the human health criteria, all the esculent fish and shellfish needed to be considered. For the wildlife criteria, at least one mammalian species and three avian species were needed. For the sediment quality criteria, six families from benthic invertebrates including corbiculidae, lymnaeidae, palaemonidae, chironomidae, tubificidae, and glossiphoniinae needed to be selected.