Periphyton Biofilms for Sustainability of Aquatic Ecosystems

Periphyton communities are largely phototrophic benthic microbial biofilms that are important as primary producers and food sources. They are often used as monitors of ecosystem health and indicators of contamination in aquatic ecosystems. Moreover, owing to their microporous structure, complex composition and extracellular polymeric substances, periphyton biofilms are used to clean contaminated environments. This chapter describes the composition and structure of periphyton biofilms. After a summary of periphyton biofilm studies in recent years, two aspects are reviewed, based on our previous investigations. The first is to purify water and wastewater by periphyton biofilms and the second aspect is to explore the relationship among phosphorus release from sediments, cyanobacterial blooms and periphyton biofilms. The illustration of these two aspects of periphyton biofilms will assist researchers to understand the information that the inclusion of periphyton biofilms in aquatic ecosystems is practically significant to improve water quality ecosystem health and to maintain the sustainability of aquatic ecosystems.