Toxicity Bio-Monitoring of Shkodra Lake Surface Water Using a Higher Plant Assay

Health and quality of biota in natural ecosystems are directly affected by different kind of pollutants, accumulated because of uncontrolled releases into the environment of industrial effluents and urban waste, as well as by drainage, flooding, intensive farming and tourism. Bio-monitoring of Shkodra Lake water quality was done using Allium cepa L. assay. Bulbs were grown on surface water samples collected from six stations: S1-S3 at east and S4-S6 at west lake waterside, during August 2010-2013. The reaction of root meristematic tissue and its genetic material to the presence and quantity of potential cyto and genotoxic chemicals was done by evaluating macro and microscopic parameters, as: root length, mitotic and phase indexes, interphase nuclear volume, chromosome abnormalities frequency and types. The most toxic samples resulted 2011 and 2013 and the east waterside ones, which could be due to massive flooding during the respective years and the different trophy level between east and west lake basin sides. There were detected slight traces of toxic and persistent water chemical pollutants, serving as an alert of their possible bioaccumulation and negative impact on biota and human health. The A. cepa test could be successfully applied as a simple, short-term and inexpensive approach for environmental quality evaluation in developing areas and countries such as Shkodra region and Albania.