Mesopotamian Journal of Marine Science

This study was conducted to find out the changes in the nutrient and other ecological factors in Shatt Al- Arab River's waters at three sites, which are Al-Hartha, Al-Ashar and Al-Seba. Samples were collected monthly starting from October 2020 to September 2021. It was noted through the study that there were spatial and temporal changes in the nutrient and other indicators in the three Sites. It was found that all the values were within normal standards. The results of measurements of the nutrients and other ecological factors were as follows: The reactive phosphate 0.01 - 1.19 µg/L, reactive nitrite 0.4-9.8 µg/L, reactive nitrate 0.1-14.65µg/L, while the reactive silicate fluctuated between 1.67-15.49 µg/L. Water temperature 14.7-31.4 C°, pH was 7.12-8.16, salinity between 0.1 and 22.1 mg/L, dissolved oxygen 3.4-11.1 mg/L.

Iraq's mudflats are spread around Southern Coasts of Iraq which recently suffered from pollution by petroleum hydrocarbons and trace elements. Those pollutants affect the biological lives such as fishes, crabs, and algae's in this area which is reflected upon human being as a consumer. Within this study, nine sites of Iraqi coastal mudflats were chosen to collect water and certain trace elements Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, and Zn were estimated by Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry. Levels of trace elements estimated in mg/g were: (0.0015-0.0044) Cadmium, (0.6532 0.3299) Chromium, (0.2146-0.3773) Cupper, (0.2365-0.4682) lead and (0.0861-0.1822) Zinc. The detected levels of elements were more than the allowed values nationally and globally. Finally, the physical and chemical quantities of marine waters were measured.

Concentration and distribution of total petroleum hydrocarbons in water, sediment and two merged aquatic plants species (Phragmites australis and Typha domingensis) have been detected. The samples were collected from four selected stations at Al-Chibayish marsh in Thi-Qar province, southern Iraq seasonally from August, 2017 to April, 2018. Spectroflurometer (Shimadzu-RF-540) was used for this purpose. Results showed that the lowest concentration in water was 1.91 µg/l recorded in summer season, whereas the highest concentration was 6.79 µ/l recorded in winter season. In sediments, the highest concentration 17.98 µg/g dry weight was recorded in winter season, while the lowest concentration was 2.98 µg/g dry weight was recorded in summer. The range of hydrocarbons concentrations in two aquatic plants species was 6.00-34.91 , 5.25-30.68 µg/g dry weight, for Phragmites austeralis, Typha demingensis respectively. The present study indicated that there are concentrations of hydrocarbons exist in the study area were the permissible range.

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Carnivores To provide a complete picture of the fish assemblage environment in this region, the present study used the Integrated Biological Index (IBI) to analyze the biological evaluation of the fish assemblage environment in the Garmat Ali River from 2003 to 2016. From the following primary groupings, seventeen units were used to construct the IBI (species richness, fish species composition, and trophic guilds). Forty-eight species were found overall, with 28 species found in the first period August 2003 to July 2004, 26 species discovered in the second period from November 2007 to October 2008, and 34 species found in the third period November 2015 - October 2016. The number of native species for each of the three time periods 14, 11, and 8, as well as the number of foreign species 5, 6, and 8, and marine migratory species 9, 9 ,and 18 for each of the three times. The percentage of native species for each of the three time periods was 60.5, 51.1, and 2.4%; the percentage of foreign species was 12.2, 34.5, and 69.7%; and the percentage of marine species for each of the three time periods was 27.5, 14.4, and 27.9%. For the three periods, the percentage of omnivore species individuals was 30.9, 31.08, and 80.6%, while the percentage of detrivore species individuals was 67.7, 45.6, and 2.2, For the three time periods, the percentage of individual carnivores was 1.4, 23.2, and 12.9%, whereas the percentage of individual herbivores was 0.2, 0 and 4.3%. The first period's IBI value (61.8) was included under the Marginally impaired (60-80) category, and the seco

This study was conducted in response to a lack of research in the region and aims to evaluate the impact of household pollutants and fish populations on the environment and investigate their role in the disappearance of some ancient phenomena that occur annually. The study was performed from January to December 2023 on the internal streams fed by the Euphrates River in Al-Sadiq District, north of Basrah Province. Some ecological parameters were measured: water temperature, salinity, hydrogen ion concentration, dissolved oxygen, biological oxygen demand, total nitrate, and phosphate. Out of the total of 17 fish species nine of them were native, and eight were exotic species belonging to 15 genera, nine families, and five orders, all of them affiliated with the bony fish Osteichthyes class. Four species recorded the highest values of numerical relative abundance and formed 78.01% of the overall number of species. The current study concluded that the region has moderate total nitrate and phosphate concentrations and that the fish assemblage contributes to the recovery from eutrophication by fish feeding on filamentous algae and aquatic plants.

The current experiment was conducted in eight earthen ponds (600 m2), and each pond stocked with 1500 young common carp at average weight of 13.2 g. The experiment is conducted to investigate the differences in survival rate and growth performance for these young fishes fed diets with different ratio of dried garlic meal as additives [without additives (C), addition of 0.5% garlic (T1), addition of 1% garlic (T2), addition of 1.5% garlic (T3)]. Results of current experiment revealed that highest survival rate (97.8%) was achieved by fish in C and lowest 96.0% was achieved by fish in T3, while highest daily growth rate 0.3744 g/day was achieved by fish in T3 and lowest 0.3320 g/day was achieved by fish in T2. Feed conversions of all treatment were 2.74, 2.85, 2.82 and 2.38 for C, T1, T2 and T3 respectively. Statistical analysis of the results for survival rate, fe141ed conversion rate and all growth criteria studied in current experiment proved that there were no significant differences (P>0.05) between control and other three treatments and also between these treatments. The growth pattern for young common carp before the experiment was negative allometric were b value was 2.6496, while it was positive allometric for all treatments after experiment. There were no significant differences (P>0.05) in relative condition factor between before and after the experiment and also between all treatments.

The water quality in the southeast region of Iraq was evaluated in this study, which focused on the Tigris River one of Iraq's primary water sources in Iraq. From August 2022 to July 2023, water samples were taken at four different stations on a monthly and seasonal basis between Al-Qurna and Al-Azayer cities. The study aims to estimate the quality of water in the Tigris River for potable water. Consumers will be able to use the information to identify various degrees of pollution. The eight parameters that were examined were as follows: water temperature, dissolved oxygen (DO), hydrogen ions (pH), turbidity, total hardness (TH), total dissolved solids (TDS), electrical conductivity (EC), and chloride (Cl-1). The four stations along the Tigris River showed different monthly fluctuations in the water quality index. The water quality index showed different monthly and seasonal fluctuations among the four study stations in the Tigris River. In station 1, the mean WQI value was 2.153 ± 0.557, indicating good water quality. However, the lowest WQI value (1.357) occurred in August, indicating poor water quality as the index decreased below 2.0. On the other hand, the highest value (2.800) in June and May indicated good water quality as the index of 2.0. Station 2 had a mean water quality index value of 1.915 ± 0.328, with values ranging from 1.326 in August to 2.150 in October. Station 3 reported a mean WQI of 1.793 ± 0.351, showing the lowest index (1.298) in August and the highest (2.100) in November, February, March, and May. At station 4, the water quality index varied from 1.393 in April to 2.100 in November, February, and March with a mean of 1.689 ± 0.358. Constructed on seasonal fluctuations with a general mean value of 1.869 ± 0.307, the Tigris River's water quality can be considered poor quality. Winter and spring had the highest WQI values (2.151, 2.079), while summer and Autumn had the lowest WQI levels (1.483–1.761). Based on their average values, stations 2, 3, and 4 indicate poor water quality, considering the ideal value of the water quality index. An ANOVA analysis of the water quality index showed significant results (P < 0.05, F = 2.850, Sig = 0.048). These results suggest that the water in the entire river is unsuitable for potable water.

In this study, a treatment unit was designed to remove nitrate ions from groundwater using zero iron taken from waste of industrial workshops. The various conditions for the nitrate return reaction with zero iron were studied and the best conditions of batch system were determined to obtain a high removal yield, which was to conduct the treatment in an acidic medium pH =2 and add. Zero iron, with a granular size of 75µm, at a concentration of 8g/L for 120 min at normal temperature, where the removal rate reached more than 93% when using synthetic water with an initial nitrate concentration of 150ppm. The continuous treatment unit for removing nitrates in the research gave high effectiveness, as the unit includes a tank for removing nitrates with zero iron within the conditions that were deduced, followed by a tank for removing ammonium ions resulting from the first stage, then a filtration stage using a sand filter, and finally a tank for mixing the treated water with quantities determined from untreated raw water to obtain an appropriate residual level of nitrate ions. The proposed treatment unit was used in this research to treat a sample of well water containing 64 parts ppm of nitrates. The proposed treatment unit confirmed its effectiveness in treatment, as the nitrate concentration decreased to 38 ppm and was almost free of ammonium. The by-products of the treatment did not affect the Water specifications were greatly compared to the standard drinking water specifications issued by the World Health Organization.

The response of the tidal hydrodynamics and salinity status in the Shatt Al-Arab river estuary (SARE) to the installation of a barrage was investigated using Mike11. The results demonstrated that installing a barrage might cause many changes in the hydrodynamic behavior of SARE. The most noticeable alteration occurs in the tidal range, particularly near the barrage location, where there are significant increases in the tidal range in such regions. However, tidal range variations are intimately correlated with tidal constituents amplitude variations, particularly in the vicinity of the barrage site, where the largest amplitude variation of the tidal components occurs. To examine the variations in the tidal constituent characteristics, six stations were chosen. In the first three stations, there was a significant increase in the amplitudes of the semi-diurnal components, namely M2, S2, and N2, whereas in the other stations, there was a slight decrease. Conversely, the diurnal constituents amplitudes exhibit a notable increase in the first five stations but remain unchanged in the sixth. Furthermore, there are noticeable variations in the phase of the tidal components, with the most significant change occurring between stations five and six. Additionally, several scenarios were performed to determine the appropriate freshwater inflow from the Karun river to maintain the SARE environment. Based on the results, it appears that freshwater flows of 70, 80, 90, and 100 m3/sec may be suitable to sustain the SARE environment, as long as the length of the salinity incursion remains below 60 km.

Six stations (Qurna, Al-Diyar, Karma Ali, Al-Ashar, Abu Al-Khasib, and Al-Fao) were chosen along the Shatt Al-Arab, and sediment samples were collected from them on a quarterly basis for the period extending from August 2020 to March 2021 to determine the concentrations of pesticides. Some physical and chemical variables (air and Water temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, and electrical conductivity (in the water), and the total organic carbon (TOC%) of sediments and sediment texture were determined. The results showed that the range of variables for Shatt al-Arab water is: air temperature 18-43 °C, water temperature 14-34 °C, pH 7.00- 8.52, electrical conductivity 1.29-2.82 mS/cm, Dissolved oxygen3.9- 11 mg/L and total organic carbon in sediments 6.17- 22.55%. Thirteen compounds representing pesticides were identified, and their concentrations ranged between 0 - 9.6 µg/kg. The highest concentration was due to the Endrin compound, and the lowest concentration due to the Endosulfan compound. In general, the concentrations of pesticides were within the internationally permissible limits.

Five leaf samples were collected from grey mangrove plants found along the coastline of Khor Al-Zubair oil port in the Khor Al-Zubair region, located southwest of Basra Governorate, Iraq. DNA was extracted from dried leaf material, and then the nuclear internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region, involving ITS1, the 5.8S rRNA region, and ITS2, ranging in size from 700 to 720 bp, was amplified using specific primers. Among the samples collected, three originated from plants exhibiting two leaves at each node (opposite leaves), while the remaining two samples were obtained from plants with three leaves at each node (whorled leaves). The current study primarily focuses on leaf arrangements termed as whorled leaves, which were observed in two of the collected samples, this pattern is unfamiliar in the Avicennia marina. Hence, there may be a correlation between the ITS region and the phyllotaxis pattern of these plants. Alignment analysis of a high-quality sequence of 692 base pairs revealed significant similarity with the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) of Avicennia marina. This sequence has been deposited in GenBank under the new accession number (PP237061), it was then, aligned with those from 16 other documented ITS regions of Avicennia marina specimens in NCBI to construct a comparative phylogenetic tree consisting of 32 nodes and 17 tips.

This genetic detection study, focusing on the adenosine-5’-phosphosulfate reductase alpha subunit apsA gene in water samples in an oil field in Basrah city, southern Iraq, constitutes an important contribution to understanding the distribution and diagnosis of microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC) bacteria in oil reservoirs. samples of oil produced water were systematically collected from five distinct oil well sites in Basrah city; to facilitate the preparation of sulfate-reducing bacterial growth cultures, various chemical parameters were measured during the study. Primers targeting 678bp of apsA gene were synthesized, followed by PCR amplification and subsequent sequencing of the PCR product. The analysis revealed a high-quality sequence comprising 472 base pairs. Alignment of BLAST results demonstrated a remarkable 99.57% similarity with Desulfovibrio vulgaris DP4, confirming the presence of the apsA gene in the chromosomal DNA of this bacterium, thereby categorizing it as a sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB).