In the Duliujian River, 12 water environmental parameters corresponding to 45 sampling sites were analyzed over four seasons. With a statistics test (Spearman correlation coefficient) and multivariate statistical methods, including cluster analysis (CA) and principal components analysis (PCA), the river water quality temporal and spatial patterns were analyzed to evaluate the pollution status and identify the potential pollution sources along the river. CA and PCA results on spatial scale revealed that the upstream was slightly polluted by domestic sewage, while the upper-middle reach was highly polluted due to the sewage from feed mills, furniture and pharmaceutical factories. The middle-lower reach, moderately polluted by sewage from textile, pharmaceutical, petroleum and oil refinery factories as well as fisheries and livestock activities, demonstrated the water purification role of wetland reserves. Seawater intrusion caused serious water pollution in the estuary. Through temporal CA, the four seasons were grouped into three clusters consistent with the hydrological mean, high and low flow periods. The temporal PCA results suggested that nutrient control was the primary task in mean flow period and the monitoring of effluents from feed mills, petrochemical and pharmaceutical factories is more important in the high flow period, while the wastewater from domestic and livestock should be monitored carefully in low flow periods. The results may provide some guidance or inspiration for environmental management.

The influence of rigid unsubmerged vegetation on flow structure and turbulent kinetic energy of gradually varied flow are experimentally investigated in this research. Natural reed stems of different densities are employed to examine the effects of the rigid unsubmerged vegetation on the flow in rivers. The results reveal that the vegetation existence significantly changes the gradually varied flow state from type M1 to type M2 in the vegetation section. The traditional power law describing the vertical flow velocity profile is evidently invalid when the vegetation density becomes high. With the irregularity index proposed in the research, the irregularity of vertical flow velocity profile in vegetated reach can be exponentially described in relation to the vegetation density. Furthermore, the turbulent kinetic energy is found to increase and reach a maximum value near the end of the vegetation section that is a potential localized erosion area. The results of the research have significances in river ecological restoration applications utilizing aquatic vegetation. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A river-estuary ecosystem usually features a distinct salinity gradient and a complex water environment, so it is enormously valuable to study the response mechanism of living organisms to multiple abiotic factors under salinity stress. Phytoplankton, as an important part of aquatic microorganisms, has always been of concern for its crucial place in the aquatic ecosystem. In this study, phytoplankton data and 18 abiotic factors collected from 15 stations in Duliujian River, a seagoing river, were investigated in different seasons. The results showed that the river studied was of a Cyanophyta-dominant type. Salinity (SAL) was the key control factor for phytoplankton species richness, while water temperature (WT) was critical not only for species richness, but also community diversity, and the abundance and biomass of dominant species. Apart from WT, the abundance and biomass of dominant species were also driven by total nitrogen (TN), nitrate (NO3−), pH, and water transparency (SD). Moreover, total dissolved phosphorus (TDP), pH, and chemical oxygen demand (COD) were crucial for community diversity and evenness. The bloom of dominant species positively associated with TDP led to lower diversity and evenness in autumn. In addition, when available nitrogen was limited, Pseudoanabaena sp. could obtain a competitive advantage through the N2 fixation function. Increased available nitrogen concentration could favor the abundance of Chlorella vulgaris to resist the negative effect of WT. The results show that Oscillatoria limosa could serve as an indicator of organic contamination, and nutrient-concentration control must be effective to inhibit Microcystis bloom. This could help managers to formulate conservation measures.

From the perspective of vegetation density, this research studies the influence of vegetation on turbulence characteristics and Reynolds shear stress in partly vegetated channel via a series of experiments. Natural reed is employed to simulate the emergent vegetation in rivers. Different vegetation densities including vegetated and unvegetated cases are considered in the research. The results of the research demonstrate that emergent vegetation may force the water flowing from vegetated areas to unvegetated areas and the forcing intensity increases with reed density. It is also found that the relative turbulence intensity declines along the vegetated channel in the direction of flow. Vegetation is found to reduce the total-average Reynolds shear stress therefore reduce the soil erosion. However, the Reynolds shear stress reduction is found disproportional to the vegetation density, and an optimal vegetation density range is quantitatively determined in the research. The findings of the research are significant to the practice of river ecological restoration.