Limnological Quality: Seasonality Assessment and Potential for Contamination of the Pindaré River Watershed, Pre-Amazon Region, Brazil
, Klinger G. Duarte 1, Fábio H. Ramos Braga 1, Neuriane S. Lima 1, Darlan F. Silva 2,*, Wellyson C. A. Firmo 3, Márcia R. V. Batista 4, Flor M. A. M. Silva 4, Rita de C. M. Miranda 2 and Maria Raimunda C. Silva 2Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Title: Limnological quality: Seasonality assessment and potential for contamination of the Pindaré River watershed, pre-Amazon region, Brazil
To examine the seasonal changes in the Pindaré River, the authors collected the river water samples from three locations during Oct., 2017 to Aug., 2018. The analyzed parameters included pH, temperature, turbidity, total dissolved solids, salinity, electrical conductivity, nitrate, nitrite, Entamoeba coli, Giardia lamblia, and Trichuris trichiura. The authors compared the data with the allowed limitation from CONAMA legislation 357/05 for understanding the water quality and also used statistical methods to provide more information about seasonal variation and principal parameters.
major:
- This manuscript didn’t provide the detail about the all experiments such as the type of equipment, precision, accuracy…, and that didn’t fit the aims of this journal.
- If the authors provide more discussions about the mechanisms of the seasonal variations this manuscript will be more attractive.
minor:
- The longitude and latitude may be misplaced in Figure 1. If the authors are willing to provide the river path on the map, that will help readers to know the river location better.
- The source of precipitation and temperature data should be provided.
- What do the a, b, c represent in Table 1 and 2?
- L207, Did the authors try to mention Table 1 instead of Table 3?
- L288-290, Did the authors mean the sanitation systems only work between the wet and dry seasons? If it works all the time, I don’t think it is the reason for reducing the nitrate and nitrite concentrations in the water. Since the authors mentioned the transition period, the relevant data should be provided.
- L290-291, “…there was a higher effect of pollution sources during the dry season.” the statement seems different from the previous one “This decrease in the presence of parasites during the rainy period may have been due to the increased river levels.” (L266-267).
- Table 3, It is hard for me to understand how the nitrate and nitrite show the opposite trends in PC3. Could the authors provide some possibilities? Is it possible to put the precipitation data as one of variables?
- Figure 3, I don’t think the unit of salinity should be %.
- Figure 4, what do these symbols represent?
- The authors mentioned three clusters in the abstract but four clusters in Line 313.
- The definitions for dry and rainy season should be provided.
- The data of P2 ought to between P1 and P2, however, like the temperature values from P2 are highest among three stations. Do the authors have some idea about it?
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
The Authors have investigated an interesting topic and the theme has been properly described.
I would like to congratulate authors for the good-quality of the article, the literature reported used to write the paper, and for the clear and appropriate structure. The manuscript is well written, presented and discussed, and understandable to a specialist readership.
In general, the organization and the structure of the article are satisfactory and in agreement with the journal instructions for authors. The subject is adequate with the overall journal scope.
The work shows a conscientious study in which a very exhaustive discussion of the literature available has been carried out. The introduction provides sufficient background, and the other sections include results clearly presented and analyzed exhaustively.
So, I recommend the acceptance of the paper.
Author Response
We really appreciate your feedback!
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
3.The longitude and latitude may be misplaced in Figure 1. If the authors are willing to provide the river path on the map, that will help readers to know the river location better.
We made the adjustments for latitude and longitude in Figure 1 and added the path of the Pindaré River.
The map shows that the range of the Maranhão State is 8-128oE, and I don't know how to read the latitude.
5.What do the a, b, c represent in Table 1 and 2?
Represent the statistical differences between the means of the analyzed data, as described in the footer of Tables 1 and 2. Lines 178-180 (Table1) and, lines 184-186 (Table 2).
14.The data of P2 ought to between P1 and P2, however, like the temperature values from P2 are highest among three stations. Do the authors have some idea about it?
No! The data from points P1, P2 and P3 are from different stations. Using the temperature data from Table 1 (for clarification), there was no statistical difference between the measurements in the three points evaluated, that is, the temperature data in P1, P2 and P3 were similar, statistically.
If the authors try to guide the reader to understand the tables better, it is necessary to explain the meaning "a", "b", and "c" in the tables.
Author Response
Please see the attachment!
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
