Abstract

Aquatic plants are essential indicators of the environmental health of aquatic systems because of their sensitivity and vulnerability. They are also helpful for evaluating water quality in aquatic systems. This research examined the use of macrophytes and phytoplankton as biological indicators of differences in nutrient concentrations, heavy metals, and organic contaminants in freshwater and coastal ecosystems. Evaluating aquatic vegetation provides indications of eutrophication, pollution, and habitat changes through species composition, abundance, and physiological response. This study incorporates biological indicators with laboratory analysis of physicochemical water samples to determine how aquatic plant indicators relate to dissolved oxygen, pH, turbidity, and nutrient concentration. This study emphasizes the need to identify aquatic plant indicators that exhibit variability, as this aspect could have important implications for ecosystem monitoring. Investigation revealed that particular aquatic plant species exhibited morphological and biochemical variation under pollution-stress conditions, including Eichhornia crassipes (water hyacinth) and Lemna minor (duckweed). The study highlights the potential of aquatic plants and their indicators as inexpensive, sustainable, and ecologically relevant biological indicators, enabling long-term environmental monitoring and resource management. Finally, the use of aquatic plant-based biological indicators provides a means of ecosystem monitoring. Still, it has potential implications for environmental policy development and spatially and temporally based conservation efforts that maintain water quality and biodiversity in aquatic ecosystems.

Keywords: Aquatic plants, Bioindicators, Water quality, Ecosystem monitoring, Pollution assessment, Macrophytes, Environmental health