A COMPOSITE RATING OF ALGAE TOLERATING ORGANIC POLLUTION

From information on pollution‐tolerant algae compiled from reports from 165 authors, the genera and species most often referred to as significant fall into a relatively stable series. Diatoms, pigmented flagellates, green, and blue‐green algae are all well represented among the pollution‐tolerant genera and species. The top 8 genera are Euglena, Oscillatoria, Chlamydomonas, Scenedesmus, Chlorella, Nitzschia, Navicula, and Stigeoclonium, and the top 5 species, Euglena viridis, Nitzschia palea, Oscillatoria limosa, Scenedesmus quadricauda, and Oscillatoria tennis. In some genera, e.g., Euglena, a single species is far more significant than all others as a pollution‐tolerant form. In other genera, e.g., Oscillatoria, only a slight difference distinguishes the pollution tolerance of 2 or more species. Algal genus and species pollution indices arc presented for use in rating water samples with high organic pollution. Copyright © 1969, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved