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Driving factors of phytoplankton functional groups in the shallow eutrophic lakes of lowland areas of Huaihe River (China)

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Abstract

In this study, we want to clarify the driving factors of phytoplankton community in a set of eutrophic lakes in the lowland areas of Huaihe River, one of seven biggest rivers in China. We analyzed the phytoplankton community of five lakes located in the lowland areas of Huaihe River using Reynolds functional groups (RFG) approach, with simultaneous measurement of several environmental variables in monthly sampling campaigns during 2 years. The annual average phytoplankton biovolume of the five lakes ranged from 3.7 to 9.9 mm3/L, with the highest values occurring during warm seasons. The shallow eutrophic lakes primarily contained mixing and low-light adaptive species with C and D groups as dominant all-round the year. Representatives of X2, Y, and W1 were predominant during the spring and the autumn with high nutrients and organic matter concentrations. Cyanobacteria were mainly represented by group S1 especially during the summer. Mixing, temperature, together weak light caused by phytoplankton biomass, could shape phytoplankton assemblage more than nutrients in the shallow eutrophic lakes with warm-temperate climate.

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Funding

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51579001, 51504012) and the research project of Huainan Mining Group Company (No. HNKY-JTJS (2017)-83).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Earth and Environment, Anhui University of Science and Technology, Huainan, 232001, China

    Qitao Yi, Keke Wan, Ying Pan, Xin Zhang & Qi Wang

  2. School of Big Data, Anhui University of Science and Technology, Huainan, 232001, China

    Kai Xie

Authors
  1. Qitao Yi
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  2. Keke Wan
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  3. Ying Pan
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  4. Kai Xie
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  5. Xin Zhang
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  6. Qi Wang
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Correspondence to Kai Xie.

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Yi, Q., Wan, K., Pan, Y. et al. Driving factors of phytoplankton functional groups in the shallow eutrophic lakes of lowland areas of Huaihe River (China). Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 13930–13938 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-07924-z

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