[Spatial and Temporal Variation of Phytoplankton Community Structure and Its Influencing Factors in Shanghai River...

In order to explore the spatial and temporal characteristics of the phytoplankton community structure and its influencing factors in Shanghai rivers, the water quality and phytoplankton community structure at 44 river channel sites in a central urban area, new town area, and rural area in Shanghai were investigated from September to October 2018 (autumn) and July to August 2019 (summer). The results showed that:① Chlorophyta was the dominant phyla during the autumn and summer, and was followed by Cyanobacteria and Bacillariophyta. Cyanobacteria dominated the phytoplankton community in terms of density. The number of species and density of phytoplankton were 24% and 2.77 times higher, respectively, than those during the summer and autumn. The dominance of Microcystis sp. was obvious during the autumn (Y=0.16), but there was no absolute dominant species during the summer. ② The difference in the number of phytoplankton species among the three regions was not significant, and the density of the total phytoplankton and cyanobacteria species showed a similar spatial pattern:rural area > new town area > central urban area. Additionally, no significant difference was observed in the total phytoplankton and Cyanobacteria density among the three regions during the autumn (P>0.05), whereas it was 1.82 and 1.93 times higher, respectively, in the rural area in comparison to the central urban area during the summer (P<0.05). Montecarlo test results revealed that the main factors affecting the phytoplankton community structure during the autumn were secchi disk transparency (SD), total phosphorus (TP), total nitrogen (TN), and turbidimetry (Turb), whereas these were TN, Turb, SD, and pH during the summer. ③ The results of a redundancy analysis (RDA) indicated that during the autumn, the phytoplankton in the rivers of the new town area were mainly affected by Turb, TN, and TP, while the rural rivers were mainly affected by SD. During the summer, the phytoplankton in the rivers of the new town and rural areas were mainly affected by TN and Turb. The influencing factors in the central urban area were complex.