Bloom forming and toxic phytoplankton in transitional and coastal waters of Cantabria region coast (Southeastern Bay of Biscay, Spain).

Phytoplankton monitoring has extended to practically all the regions of the European coast due to the implementation of the European Water Framework Directive. In this way, the study of phytoplankton taxonomic composition and dynamic is being performed in many areas poorly studied or not studied before. During the last years, a monitoring programme has been carried out at the coast of Cantabria region (SE Bay of Biscay); the presence of some potentially toxic and bloom forming species (>7.

Microdistribution patterns of macroinvertebrate communities upstream and downstream of organic effluents.

The present study analyses the distribution patterns of macroinvertebrate communities in four microhabitats (riffles, glides, leaf litter and bank roots) upstream and downstream of two waste water treatment plant (WWTP) effluents in northern Spain rivers. Macroinvertebrate communities were analysed in November 2006 by taking 5 samples from each of the microhabitats under unaffected (upstream WWTP) and affected (downstream WWTP) conditions, respectively. Water velocity, depth, substrate coarseness and hydraulic stress by means of the Froude number were also estimated at all sampling locations.