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Water quality of the Mediterranean rivers of the GUADALMED project. Physical-chemical characteristics

Abstract:

One of the objectives of the GUADALMED project was the physico-chemical characterization of Mediterranean rivers. The 157 sampling sites included in the project were located in watersheds of different geographical areas and environmental conditions. Natural factors such as geology, vegetation in the catchment, temporality or flow regime, strongly determine water chemistry, affecting the distribution of biota or riparian vegetation characteristics. Point and diffuse pollution, and flow regulation with reservoirs, may play an important role during the classification of river stretches as sampling sites which are considered natural or very modified by human activity, on the basis of their water quality. Physico-chemical variables and their ranges of fluctuation, plus variables potentially influencing water quality were also examined. © Asociación Española de Limnología,.