The use of epiphyton and epilithon data as a base for calculating ecological indices in monitoring of eutrophication in lakes in central Sweden

Eutrophication was monitored with the aid of one similarity and seven diversity indices in the lakes of different trophic levels eutrophic, mesotrophic and oligotrophic. in central Sweden. The ecological indices were applied separately to epiphyton and epilithon communities. Epiphyton turned out to be inappropriate for assessing eutrophication in the lakes studied. On the other hand, Hurlbert’s, Simpson’s and the similarity indices turned out to be promising environmental tools when applied to the data of epilithon.