Macrophyte biological methods used in the study of the exchange between the Rhine river and the groundwater

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the efficiency of two biological methods in the study of the exchange between the canalized Rhine river and its riverside aquifer. The infiltration of Rhine water into the groundwater is revealed by a high level of eutrophicants and the micropollutant mercury. One method made use of the aquatic macrophyte communities as bioindicators of the degree of eutrophication based on phosphorus and nitrogen, and the second method, the capacity of the bryophytes to accumulate mercury. The results obtained with both methods show that bioindication using autochthonous aquatic macrophyte species can be used as an efficient method in river-groundwater exchange investigation.