Phytoplankton Composition and Their Related Factors in Five Different Lakes in China: Implications for Lake Management

Abstract

In this paper, two trophic lakes: Lake Taihu and Lake Yanghe, and three alpine lakes: Lake Qinghai, Lake Keluke, and Lake Tuosu, were investigated to discover the connections between environmental factors and the phytoplankton community in lakes with differences in trophic levels and climatic conditions. Three seasonal data, including water quality and phytoplankton, were collected from the five lakes. The results demonstrated clear differences in water parameters and phytoplankton compositions in different lakes. The phytoplankton was dominated by Bacillariophyta, followed by Cyanobacteria and Chlorophyta in Lake Qinghai, Lake Keluke, and Lake Tuosu. It was dominated by Cyanobacteria (followed by Chlorophyta and Bacillariophyta in Lake Yanghe) and Cyanobacteria (followed by Chlorophyta and Cryptophyta in Lake Taihu). The temperature was an essential factor favoring the growth of Cyanobacteria, Chlorophyta, and Bacillariophyta, especially Cyanobacteria and Chlorophyta. The pH had significantly negative relationships with Cyanobacteria, Chlorophyta, and Bacillariophyta. Particularly, a high pH might be a strong and negative factor for phytoplankton growth in alpine lakes. A high salinity was also an adverse factor for phytoplankton. Those results could provide fundamental information about the phytoplankton community and their correlated factors in the alpine lakes of the Tibetan Plateau, contributing to the protection and management of alpine lakes.

Salinity matters the most: How environmental factors shape the diversity and structure of cyanobacterial mat communities in high altitude arid ecosystems

“…Both abundance of bacteria and the taxonomic composition of the consortia can be correlated with pH, dissolved oxygen, or trophic state of the water ( Chopyk et al, 2018 ; Kiersztyn et al, 2019 ). The composition, structure and biomass of phytoplankton are highly correlated with nutrient concentration, pH, temperature and also salinity ( Reynolds, 1998 ; Jia et al, 2022 ). Interestingly, higher salinity was found to influence the germination of akinetes as well as the toxicity of N. spumigena , regardless of nutrient and temperature changes ( Silveira and Odebrecht, 2019 ).…”

Remote Estimation of Water Clarity and Suspended Particulate Matter in Qinghai Lake from 2001 to 2020 Using MODIS Images

“…However, overall, the model accuracy is satisfactory for both Z SD and C SPM with R 2 > 0.7. The Z SD and C SPM are highly correlated because the phytoplankton abundance in Qinghai Lake is not high [81], and the water clarity is mainly affected by the C SPM . The water clarity and C SPM estimated in this paper can only manifest partial optical and chemical characteristics of the water.…”

Response of phytoplankton composition to environmental stressors under humidification in three alpine lakes on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China

“…Lake Qinghai (36°32′–37°15′N; 99°36′–100°16′E) is located in northeastern ( Jia et al, 2022 ) Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, and is the largest lake in China ( Figure 1 ). It covers an area of approximately 4,300 km 2 ( Tang et al, 2018 ), has a maximum depth of 30 m, and a mean surface elevation of 3,194 m. The lake is bordered by Qilian Mountains, AltynTagh Mountains, and the Kunlun Mountains ( Abirhire et al, 2015 ; Li et al, 2021 ).…”

“…This in turn favors the growth and reproduction of nitrogen-fixing algae ( Dokulil and Teubner, 2000 ). In a high mountain lake, nutrient enrichment bioassays indicated that phytoplankton growth was severely limited by phosphorus due to overgrazing by pastoralists and ongoing climate change ( Ren et al, 2019 ; Jia et al, 2022 ). In contrast, nitrogen did not significantly impact phytoplankton growth, but excessive nitrogen is toxic to phytoplankton.…”

“…This situation may alters the physico-chemical properties of water bodies and lake nutrient concentrations since increasing terrestrial inflow ( Liu, 2013 ; Lu et al, 2017 ). These changes in environmental factors will inevitably have a profound impact on the composition and structure of phytoplankton ( Abirhire et al, 2015 ; Jia et al, 2022 ). Previous studies had demonstrated that cyanobacteria were boosted in many aquatic systems under climate change.…”