Abstract
Gaining a deeper understanding of factors that influence changes in phytoplankton community has significant implications for shallow lake management. The present study examined changes in the algae community of three shallow eutrophic lakes of the Taoge water system between 2008 and 2018 and the related factors influencing these changes. The composition of the algal community varied significantly during this period with the relative diatom biomass in lakes Changdanghu and Gehu increasing between 2014 and 2016 and again decreasing after 2017. However, relative cyanobacteria biomass initially decreased and later increased; meanwhile, the proportion of biomass of other phyla decreased continuously in the study period. Lake Zhushanhu showed similar trends, although it eventually returned to its initial state with absolute Microcystis dominance. Furthermore, the analysis of driving factors revealed that the concentrations of total nitrogen (TN), nitrate (NO3), and orthophosphate (PO4) were significantly associated with a significant increase in Microcystis biomass. Meteorological conditions also influenced changes in total algal and diatom biomasses, which were inversely related to the daily mean and daily maximum wind speeds. Monthly cumulative precipitation was only significantly associated with diatom biomass. Meanwhile, rainfall primarily affected the algal community structure between 2013 and 2017; an increase in the relative biomass of diatoms coincided with increased precipitation. Coordinating nitrogen and phosphorous use within the Taoge water system should improve lake habitat management; a broader perspective in attempts to control global and regional climate change may be needed.
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Data availability
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the Department of Ecology and Environment of Jiangsu Province, which were used under license for the current study, and so are not publicly available. Data are however available from the authors upon reasonable request and with permission of the Department of Ecology and Environment of Jiangsu Province (http://www.jiangsu.gov.cn/ysqgk/front/main.do?sysid=2&groupid=42).
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank everyone who helped during field campaigns and sample analysis. We are grateful to Dr. Jiancai Deng and Dr. Zhaoliang Peng for their thoughtful and constructive suggestions. We also thank the anonymous reviewers for their useful comments on the earlier draft of the manuscript.
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This work was supported by the National Major Science and Technology Program for Water Pollution Control and Treatment (grant nos. 2012ZX07506 and 2018ZX07208).
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Qiao Chen: methodology, formal analysis, investigation, data curation, writing—original draft, and visualization.
Weiping Hu: conceptualization, methodology, resources, supervision, writing—review and editing, and project administration.
Lijuan Shen: validation, investigation and visualization.
Wei Shen: investigation and visualization.
Xiang Zhang: investigation and visualization.
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Chen, Q., Hu, W., Shen, L. et al. The role of nutrients, wind speed, and rainfall in determining the composition of the algal community of shallow lakes in the Taoge water system, upstream from Lake Taihu, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 16195–16209 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-22935-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-22935-8