Small-scale gold mining impacts river algae in French Guiana
Wednesday, February 29, 2012 - 08:32
in Earth & Climate
Small-scale gold mining in French Guiana is having long-term effects on diatoms, small single-celled algae, by eliminating the species that are most vulnerable to water turbidity. The findings come from research carried out by scientists from the Evolution and Biological Diversity Laboratory at current or former gold-mining sites located in the Nouragues Nature Reserve. The work, published in the journal Ecological Indicators dated March 2012, aims to help create new biological indices that could be used to assess the state of rivers in the Amazon basin.