Relative importance of climate and spatial processes in shaping species composition, functional structure and beta diversity of phytoplankton in a large river

Impacts of multi-environmental stresses on different facets of riverine phytoplankton beta diversity in a large-scale semi-arid basin

Rivers are among the most threatened ecosystems worldwide, with their biodiversity facing pressures from both natural variability and human activities. Compared to river ecosystems in humid regions, those in semi-arid regions are more fragile and susceptible to environmental stresses. However, the impacts of diverse environmental stresses on multiple facets of riverine phytoplankton beta diversity in semi-arid basins remain understudied. Here, we examined the responses of taxonomic (Tβ), functional (Fβ), and phylogenetic (Pβ) beta diversity of riverine phytoplankton communities to land use, water quality, bioclimate, and spatial structure in the middle reaches of the Yellow River Basin in Northwest China. Field surveys were conducted across 33 rivers in three distinct geomorphic regions during autumn (2022) and spring (2023), respectively. We identified a total of 367 phytoplankton taxa representing 127 genera and 7 phyla in samples collected from the Loess Plateau (LP, north), Guanzhong Plain (GZ, middle), and Qinling Mountains (QL, south). Bacillariophyta (40%) and Chlorophyta (30%) were dominant across regions during both seasons. Phytoplankton richness and density were higher in spring than in autumn and increased from QL to GZ and LP. Tβ (79.8%) and Pβ (62.8%) were mainly driven by turnover, with Fβ (72.6%) dominated by nestedness. Fβ trended downward from south to north across the QL, GZ and LP regions. The major ecological processes influencing phytoplankton beta diversity displayed seasonal variation, represented by dispersal limitation in autumn and environmental filtering in spring. These findings present a holistic picture of riverine phytoplankton beta diversity within a large-scale semi-arid basin, and recommendations are proposed for the management and conservation of aquatic ecosystems.

Land use types, basin characteristics and water quality together shape riverine phytoplankton community composition and diversity

Exploring the combined effects of basin characteristics, land use types, and human activities on phytoplankton biomass, community composition and diversity is important for developing effective river protection strategies. In the present study, 182 phytoplankton samples were collected in the Hanjian and Danjiang River basins and the explanation rate of the above factors was analyzed. Water quality was the primary factor affecting riverine phytoplankton biomass, with an explanation rate to Chl a reaching 59.8%. Water quality was also the primary factor affecting phytoplankton diversity but the contribution of land use types and basin characteristics was also high. In addition to affecting phytoplankton communities and diversity by affecting water quality, diverse land use can increase the taxa of algae discharged through soil erosion processes. Elevation and slope were the main basin characteristics regulating phytoplankton community and diversity because they can determine the retention time of phytoplankton in rivers. The results also showed that land use types were the primary factor affecting the critical relative abundance of extinction (a), competition coefficient (k), environmental taxa capacity (N), but water quality was the primary factor affecting Shannon index, Simpson index, and Pielou index. This difference indicated that index a, k, and N could reflect specific characteristics of phytoplankton diversity that were not reflected by the latter indices. Our results implied that land use types and basin characteristics affected the discharge of exotic algal taxa, retention time, and other factors, thereby influencing the composition and diversity of riverine phytoplankton communities.

Seasonal instability of phytoplankton community in extreme arid lake basin during interval period of large-scale ecological water transport

Large-scale water transport helps solve the imbalance in water resources. Studies on ecological benefits after long-term EWT mainly focus on vegetation restoration and increase in water surface. However, the maintenance of aquatic communities in the EWT context is a major challenge. This study studied the seasonal dynamics of phytoplankton communities during the interval period of 22nd and 23rd EWT in a newborn lake generated by long-term EWT in an extremely arid zone. The 22nd EWT was carried out from August 2021 to November 2021, and the 23rd EWT was implemented from July to September 2022. Our research indicates that during the interval period, water temperature (WT), pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), suspended solids (SS), turbidity, total nitrogen (TN), NO3-N, total phosphorus (TP), chemical oxygen demand (CODcr), SO42- showed seasonal dynamic changes. Meanwhile, the phytoplankton community also exhibits seasonal variations, including the succession of dominant phyla and dominant species, the decrease in density and α diversity, as well as the increased instability of functional groups and ecological networks. These phenomena are more pronounced in summer when the lake water evaporates and the water quality changes, suggesting that the phytoplankton community shows attenuation along with the changes of environmental factors during the interval period. Based on this, our study suggested that the coupling relationship between water quantity, water quality change and aquatic community succession should be considered for the precise control of EWT projects aiming at improving ecological benefits. Regular phytoplankton monitoring is recommended to track the evolution of aquatic ecosystems after long-term EWT.

Non-Linear Response of Alpha and Beta Diversity of Taxonomic and Functional Groups of Phytoplankton to Environmental Factors in Subtropical Reservoirs

Exploring the response of the diversity of phytoplankton species and functional groups to environmental variables is extremely important in maintaining biodiversity in aquatic ecosystems. Although there were more taxonomic units at the species level than at the functional group level, it remained unclear whether species diversity was more sensitive than functional group diversity to environmental variables. In this study, taxonomic composition and alpha-beta diversity of phytoplankton were investigated in 23 subtropical reservoirs located in the Han River Basin in South China during wet and dry seasons. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) and Generalized Dissimilarity Modelling (GDM) were employed to validate the response of phytoplankton species and functional group alpha-beta diversities to environmental variables. The results indicated that the community compositions of phytoplankton in eutrophic reservoirs were similar between wet and dry seasons, while there were distinct differences for community composition in oligotrophic-mesotrophic reservoirs between the two seasons. Across all reservoirs, there were no significant differences in alpha and beta diversities of species and functional groups between wet and dry seasons. The SEM and GDM results revealed that total phosphorus was the primary driving factor influencing alpha and beta diversities of species and functional groups in the 23 reservoirs. Meanwhile, the non-linear results of species beta diversity were stronger than the non-linear results of functional group beta diversity, indicating that phytoplankton species exhibited a higher explanatory power in responding to environmental changes compared to that of functional groups. Compared to that of species beta diversity, the response of functional group beta diversity to environmental variables was significantly lower in the dry season. These research findings lead to re-evaluating the common practice relating to the use of phytoplankton functional groups to assess environmental conditions, which may overlook the explanatory power of subtle changes at the species level, especially during periods of habitat diversification in the dry season.

In-lake water turnover time shapes the distribution pattern of phytoplankton communities in a river-connected floodplain lake

In floodplains, phytoplankton communities are mainly shaped by environmental heterogeneity, hydrological connectivity, and habitat diversity. However, it remains unclear how hydrological connectivity drives phytoplankton biodiversity in floodplain lakes. This study was carried out in the Dongting Lake connected to the Yangtze River to ascertain the response mechanisms of phytoplankton communities to different hydrological connectivity gradients. We quantified the hydrological connectivity between lake and river habitats using in-lake water turnover time, and identified its relationship with phytoplankton community structure. Changes in hydrological connectivity can lead to different hydrodynamic and environmental conditions, which have a direct or indirect impact on phytoplankton community structure in water environments. The results showed that spatiotemporal changes in the hydrological connectivity and water environment led to distinct spatial variation in phytoplankton community structure across the study area. α and β diversity showed a consistent change law with the change of turnover time, and the diversity index gradually increased with the decrease of hydrological connectivity, reaching the maximum value at the moderate hydrological connectivity, and then gradually decreasing. The peak of β diversity occurs earlier than the peak of α diversity during the decline of hydrological connectivity. This study demonstrates that in-lake water turnover time has a non-negligible impact on phytoplankton community distribution in river-connected lakes. Phytoplankton can maintain the highest α diversity and possibly β diversity under moderate hydrological connectivity, which is crucial for maintaining aquatic biodiversity in floodplain lakes.

Damming exacerbates the discontinuities of phytoplankton in a subtropical river in China

Phytoplankton is sensitive to changes in river ecosystems. Increasing dams disrupt the continuity of river ecosystems. However, the spatial impacts of dams on phytoplankton have not been well documented. In this study, using multiple statistical analyses, the relationships between environmental drivers and phytoplankton community structures in natural background reaches, reservoirs, and corresponding post-dam reaches were explored in the Jiulong River with multiple cascaded dams, which encountered eutrophication and algal blooms in the past 15 years. Results illustrated that damming exacerbated longitudinal discontinuities of phytoplankton communities. The relative abundance of phytoplankton varied in three types of river sections. The average phytoplankton abundance in the reservoirs (1.62 × 105 cell·L-1) was higher than those in the natural background reaches (5.15 × 104 cell·L-1) and the corresponding downstream reaches (4.55 × 104 cell·L-1). The total β diversity ranged from 0.38 to 0.89 with an average of 0.64 and dominated by species replacement and least by species richness. The water environmental factors and hydraulic parameters rather than nutrients were more attributable to phytoplankton community variability in three river sections. These findings facilitate the management of rivers with multiple cascade dams by releasing environmental flows, jointly operating cascade hydropower stations, and developing nutrient reduction schemes to mitigate the negative impacts of damming in the river.

Phytoplankton functional groups as indicators of environmental changes in weir and non-weir sections of the lower Nakdong River, Republic of Korea

The Nakdong River underwent water impoundment after eight weirs were constructed as part of South Korea's Four Major River Restoration Project from 2009 to 2012. In this study, we aimed to confirm whether the assemblage of phytoplankton based on phytoplankton functional groups (PFGs), could indicate environmental changes in the weir section (WS) and non-weir section (NWS) of the lower Nakdong River after the construction of the weir. Thus, we examined the relationships between PFGs and gradients in environmental drivers, such as physicochemical, meteorological, and hydrological variables. Environmental gradients were observed between the WS and NWS in dissolved oxygen (DO), electric conductivity (EC), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), dissolved total nitrogen (DTN), dissolved total phosphorus (DTP), ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N), nitrate nitrogen (NO3-N), and phosphorus (PO4-P), which were relatively higher in the WS. Seventeen PFGs were identified (A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H1, J, LM, LO, MP, P, T, W1, X1, and X2). Additionally, the LM and P groups, preferring an enriched lentic system more than other groups, were found to be the dominant PFGs that led the succession of assemblages. Traditional nutrients (N, P) and organic pollutants (BOD, COD) primarily affected the autochthonous growth of the most dominant PFGs in the WS as HRT (hydraulic retention time) increased. Furthermore, the hydrological variables associated with meteorological conditions have a synergistic effect on the composition of the major PFGs and chemical and physical variables in the WS. In other words, the WS may be a new source of inoculum that primarily determines the occurrence and maintenance of phytoplankton in the immediate downstream region (NWS). In particular, group LM (mainly potentially toxic Microcystis) developing in the upper weir impoundment is transported downstream, resulting in a high inoculation effect on further growth in the NWS during the summer monsoon season.