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Effects of episodic sediment resuspension on phytoplankton in Lake Taihu: focusing on photosynthesis, biomass and community composition

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Abstract

Sediment resuspension is an important characteristic of large shallow lakes. To further understand the influence of sediment resuspension on the nutrients release, the algal photosynthetic activity, algal biomass and algal community composition, a 2 × 5 factorial (2 water types and 5 turbulence intensities) bioassay experiment was carried out for 2 weeks. 2 water types: one type water was filtered through GF/F filter to remove all indigenous algae (Filtered group) and the other type was source water without filtering through GF/F filter (Non-filtered group). 5 turbulence intensities in the experiment simulated the different intensity of the field wind-induced turbulence in Lake Taihu, with different turbidities (0, 30, 70, 150, 250 NTUs). Results showed that sediment resuspension had significant effects on the nutrients release that could be absorbed to support algae growing. Different turbulence intensities had no significant effects on the photosynthetic activities. The time variation of photosynthetic parameters in the Filtered and Non-filtered groups indicated that algae could moderate themselves to adapt to different intensities turbulence environment to be more in favor of photosynthesis. In addition, sediment resuspension also brought sediment-associated algae back into the water body increasing the algal biomass. The community composition in the Filtered group and Non-filtered group showed that the new phytoplankton community formed from the resuspended algae was similar to the original community. So, the research highlights the importance of sediment resuspension in long-term management goals and restoration efforts for these types of ecosystems.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the Lake Taihu Laboratory for Lake Ecosystem Research which provided the experiment platform. Yan Yin and Lanying Zhang assisted with laboratory analyses. This work was funded through the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41501518), the International Scientific Cooperation Project (2014DFG91780) and the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK20140184). And it also was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2014QNA86) and A Project Funded by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD).

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  1. School of Resource and Geosciences, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, 221116, China

    Yanqing Ding

  2. Taihu Laboratory for Lake Ecosystem Research, State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China

    Boqiang Qin & Jianming Deng

  3. Key Laboratory of Reservoir Aquatic Environment, Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing, 400714, China

    Jianrong Ma

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  1. Yanqing Ding
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Correspondence to Boqiang Qin.

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Ding, Y., Qin, B., Deng, J. et al. Effects of episodic sediment resuspension on phytoplankton in Lake Taihu: focusing on photosynthesis, biomass and community composition. Aquat Sci 79, 617–629 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00027-017-0523-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00027-017-0523-6

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