O uso de macrófitas aquáticas como bioindicadores vegetais de poluição da água

Abstract

Industrial and population growth, linked to fundamental sanitation problems, has contributed to the pollution of waterways due to the inadequate disposal of waste, such as domestic effluents and heavy metals. This way, the present work sought to analyze, based on an integrative review, studies highlighting the potential of macrophytes as bioindicators of water quality at an international level. The research was conducted on the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) platform using aquatic pollution, bioindicators, and macrophyte descriptors. As a result, forty-five articles were found in the initial search, and after reading the abstracts, five works were selected for categorization, analysis, and interpretation. The integrative review revealed that aquatic macrophytes Ulva australis, Zostera muelleri, Ruppia megacarpa, Eichharnia crassipes, Salvina minimos, Azolla caroliniana, Ludwigia stolonifera, Echinochloa stagnina, Phragmites australis, Ceratophyllum demersum, Rhodophyta sp. (red algae), Ochrophyta sp. (brown algae) and Chlorophyta sp. (green algae) has the potential to act as bioindicators, being good candidates for phytoremediation processes, due to its potential to accumulate high concentrations of heavy metals, and can be used in environmental impact assessments, such as water quality assessments, showing that a viable and sustainable alternative for treating polluted water bodies.