Spatial and temporal dynamics of functional groups of phytoplankton in a tropical shallow lake

Abstract

Aim To evaluate the structure and dynamics of functional phytoplankton groups (FGs) over a macrophyte cover gradient and their relations with environmental variable in small, shallow clear-water lake. Methods Physical, chemical and phytoplankton analyses were made between August 2014 and June 2015 at three points on the Santa Lucia lake (Paraiba, Brazil). Tukey and Wilcoxon tests were applied to the data followed by CCA and Anova. Results The submerged macrophyte cover and phytoplankton biomass presented high spatial and temporal uniformity. The increase in rainfall induced small variations in functional groups, promoting increase the N group and reduction of the SN. Conclusion The homogeneity in the composition and structure functional groups along macrophyte cover confirm the tendency that in small and shallow lakes communities of limnetic and shoreline zones tend to be similar.

Environmental heterogeneity affecting spatial distribution of phytoplankton community structure and functional groups in a large eutrophic lake, Lake Chaohu, China

“…In this study, the dominant functional groups M, H2, MP, and J are all positively correlated with water temperature (WT), and RDA also shows that WT (15%) has the highest interpretation rate of phytoplankton functional groups, indicating that WT is a crucial limiting factor for the dynamics of phytoplankton functional groups in Lake Chaohu. Similar observations have been reported in Lake Santa Lucia, Lake East Taihu, and Lake Okeechobee (Silva et al 2018 ; Nan et al 2020 ; Ma et al 2022 ). In Lake Chaohu, function groups Y and N are dominant in winter, and they are related to low temperature and high turbidity, consistent with the findings of other studies (Xu et al 2011 ; Nan et al 2020 ).…”

“…and Desmodesmus quadricauda in spring, whose habitat type is turbid and shallow eutrophic water and resistant to low light and low temperature (Reynolds et al 2002 , 2006 ; Padisák et al 2006 , 2009 ). The dominant functional group D only appears in Location II in spring, which is consistent with the low temperature, low light, and mesotrophic environment in Lake Chaohu, and it also occurs in other waterbodies (Reynolds et al 2002 , 2006 ; Padisák et al 2006 ; Silva et al 2018 ). High temperature, high phosphorus, and light are conducive to the growth of dominant functional group M, resulting in the outbreak of cyanobacterial blooms in summer and autumn in Lake Chaohu, in which this phenomenon appears in other eutrophic waterbodies (Yoshinaga et al 2006 ; Cao et al 2018 ).…”

Environmental heterogeneity affecting spatial distribution of phytoplankton community structure and functional groups in a large eutrophic lake, Lake Chaohu, China

“…and Desmodesmus quadricauda in spring, whose habitat types were turbid and shallow eutrophic water, resistant to low light and low temperature(Reynolds et al, 2002(Reynolds et al, , 2006Padisák et al, 2006Padisák et al, , 2009. The dominant functional group D occurred only in Location II in spring, which it was consistent with low temperature, low light and mesotrophic environments(Reynolds et al, 2002(Reynolds et al, , 2006Padisák et al, 2006;Silva et al, 2018). High temperature, high phosphorus and light are conducive to the growth of functional group M, resulting in the outbreak of cyanobacterial blooms in summer and autumn in Lake Chaohu, which it was consistent with other investigations in eutrophic waterbodies(Yoshinaga et al, 2006;Deng et al, 2007;Cao et al, 2018).…”