Assessment of phytoplankton community structure and water quality in the Hongmen Reservoir

Abstract

To find effective measures to control the water quality of the Hongmen Reservoir, it is necessary to better understand its phytoplankton composition, abundance and spatial and temporal distribution. Samples were collected at three sampling sites in January (dry season), May (wet season) and September (normal season) in 2019. Trophic level and stability status were assessed on the basis of the Shannon diversity index (H), species richness (S) and evenness (J) index. The different relationships between phytoplankton and the concentrations of several physicochemical parameters and the main soluble nutrients were evaluated by statistical tests. The results showed that there were 75 species belonging to seven groups of phytoplankton, including Chlorophyta (44 species), Bacillariophyta (12 species), Cyanophyta (9 species) and others (10 species). The phytoplankton community composition belongs to the Chlorophyta–Bacillariophyta–Cyanobacteria type structure; and Microcystis, Anabaena azotica Ley, Aphanizomenon, Melosira granulata were the main contributors to the dissimilarities in the temporal distributions of their communities. The phytoplankton density ranged from 4.42 × 106 to 8.99 × 106 particles/L, with an average of 6.45 × 106 particles/L, and the biomass was 4.42 × 106 ∼ 8.99 × 106 particles/L, with an average of 6.45 × 106 particles/L. The variation ranges of the Shannon–Wiener index (H′), Margalef index (D) and Pielou evenness index (J) were 2.05 ∼ 2.85, 4.12 ∼ 6.60 and 0.61–0.78, respectively. This research shows that the water in the Hongmen Reservoir is clean and that the pollution level is light. The correlation analysis shows that total phosphorus and dissolved oxygen are the main factors affecting phytoplankton community structure in the Hongmen Reservoir.

Limnological Characteristics, Phytoplankton Assemblage and Environmental Assessment of Hadejia River, North-Western Nigeria: A Comprehensive Survey

“…Phytoplankton form an integral part of the aquatic system where they serve as primary producers, occupying a critical position in the energy cycle and playing an important role in maintaining ecological balance (Liu et al, 2021). A total of 693 Phytoplankton individuals from five divisions were recorded.…”

“…Nitrates and phosphates are recognized as essential nutrients for phytoplankton growth, with increased biomass observed when phosphorus is assimilated into cells (Liu et al, 2021), a process largely influenced by light, temperature, and pH (Singh et al, 2018).…”

Effects of submerged macrophytes (Elodea nuttallii) on water quality and microbial communities of largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) ponds

“…In the constant pursuit of high yields, the exogenous feed input is continually increasing. Large amounts of unused artificial feed and fish excretion are deposited at the bottom of ponds, and most ponds are small, shallow, and stagnant; this can lead to a series of pollution concerns for aquatic environments, such as eutrophication, water quality deterioration, bloom-forming cyanophyte outbreaks, and diseases of aquaculture products (Munni et al, 2013;Costa et al, 2014;Liu C. et al, 2021). Generally, traditional intensive pond aquaculture easily causes environmental degradation, which can seriously affect the whole pond ecosystem environment and aquaculture output (Tang et al, 2021).…”

Changes in Diversity of Silica-Scaled Chrysophytes during Lake–River–Reservoir Transition (Baikal–Angara–Irkutsk Reservoir)

“…Phytoplankton [1][2][3][4] are very well known to be one of the most effective indicators of aquatic system changes, since the species has a very fast response to any change in water environment, changing the taxonomic structure of its community and/or number of species in the community [1,3,[5][6][7] due to their short life cycle and broad spatial distribution. Some Bacillariophyta and Cyanoprokaryota species are known as indicators of water quality [8][9][10]. Nevertheless, silica-scaled chrysophytes (Chrysophyceae Pascher) have not yet been well studied for that purpose, though they are known to be very sensitive to any environmental changes [11,12].…”