ABSTRACT
The influence of atmospheric pollution on the acidification of surface waters became acute in the 1950s as a result of the acidification of precipitation in a number of industrialised countries. The dramatic impact this has had on aquatic organisms is related to the fact that throughout their evolution, pH has been one of the most stable environmental parameters of water quality. The evolution of pH resulting from natural processes, such as lake formation and its related biological successions, occurs on a temporal scale that enables adaptation 'mechanisms' of biocoenoses to develop fully. Since the rate of anthropogenic acidification is several times faster than the adaptation capacity of biocoenoses acidification inevitably results in the degradation of these aquatic communities.
