ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the analysis of the environmental variables in the water body and sediments of the wetland. Spatial patterns and gradients of environmental variables are explored via multivariate analysis, which reduce the complexity of large datasets. The chapter identifies the overall range of water and sediments physico-chemical concentrations in the different wetland areas and in the river inflow. Two hypotheses are evaluated, the first is that the concentrations from the physico-chemical variables differ from the ones of the river inflow, and the second is that these concentrations may change depending on the inundation periods the wetland experiences. A suite of environmental variables to be collected in the water body and sediments was chosen to evaluate the trophic status and organic components of the AdM river-wetland. The list of variables represents an overall synoptic survey of physical and chemical ambient conditions.
