Biochemical and microbiological tools for the evaluation of environmental quality of a coastal lagoon system in Southern Brazil.

This study aimed to evaluate the environmental quality of surface water of the Maricá Lagoon System through physicochemical, biochemical and microbiological parameters, in order to assess its environmental quality. Marine influence over the system was evidenced by the salinity and temperature gradients, where the most distant point, in Maricá Lagoon, presented the largest protein, lipid and biopolymeric carbon concentrations. Biopolymers, with predominance of lipids, presented a pattern that differs from the literature for coastal sediments.