Aquatic Community Responses in South African Coastal Rivers

South African coastal rivers in the southern Cape were monitored over two years across wet and dry seasons. The dataset likely contains measurements of algae and macroinvertebrate community assemblages alongside physical and chemical water parameters, such as electrical conductivity, nutrients, and alkalinity, along a longitudinal gradient influenced by agriculture. Its primary aim is to assess how agricultural impacts and altered flow regimes affect ecological integrity.

Use Cases

• Analyzing spatial and temporal trends in algal and macroinvertebrate assemblages based on seasonal sampling.
• Modeling relationships between nutrient levels (e.g., total nitrogen, phosphorus) and aquatic community structure.
• Assessing the impact of agricultural runoff on water quality parameters like electrical conductivity and hardness.
• Studying the effect of altered flow regimes on benthic filamentous algae dominance.

Strengths

• Covers a two-year temporal scope with sampling across both wet and dry seasons.
• Includes detailed physical and chemical water quality measurements, with specific ranges provided (e.g., electrical conductivity 12-30 mS/m upstream, >100 mS/m downstream).
• Released under a permissive CC-BY-4.0 license, facilitating reuse.

Limitations

• Core dataset is not housed on the platform; users must follow a link to an external repository (hdl.handle.net/10204/8989).
• Column names and the exact row count are unknown, limiting understanding of the data structure.
• Metadata on collection methodology and specific sampling sites is sparse.

Provenance

Source

Author is Chantel Petersen. The dataset is referenced via the handle http://hdl.handle.net/10204/8989.

Collection Method

Field sampling in agriculturally influenced coastal rivers, likely involving collection of biological samples and in-situ water quality measurements.

Time Range

Two years, covering multiple wet and dry seasons.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-23.

Geography

Coastal rivers in the southern Cape, South Africa.