Bioassessment of surface waters is one of the most important approaches to predict the deterioration of ecosystems and achieve environmental sustainability according to the application of the European Water Framework Directive. The present review emphasizes the importance of the bioassessment of freshwater quality especially running waters based on diatom metrics. Nutrient enrichment and hydromorphological alternation driven by human activities are the main factors for the ecological compromise of freshwater ecosystems. Currently, the bioassessment of the ecological condition of inland water bodies is adopted worldwide. Bioassessment is complementary to physicochemical and hydromorphological data for evaluating the ecological conditions of rivers; however, measuring all the physical and chemical changes is expensive and impractical. |
