Plankton transport dynamics of China's Poyang Lake in relation to spatial and environmental regulators during wet season
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Published on: June 13, 2020
Yungeng Jiang1, Jing Zhang2, Shaoyong Lu2
1State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Drinking Water Source Protection, State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, National Engineering Laboratory for Lake Pollution Control and Ecological Restoration, State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory for Lake Pollution Control, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China; Sino-Danish College of University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 101408, China; Sino-Danish Centre for Education and Research, Beijing 101408, China.
Abstract:
China's largest freshwater lake, Poyang Lake, can be described as a floodplain-lake system that frequently exchanges substances such as water and plankton with its inflow rivers. To explore water quality and plankton spatial heterogeneity and the cause, this study investigated their spatial characteristics over different lake regions. Phytoplankton abundance was lower in Yangtze-connected areas (dominated by Bacillariophyta, 62 %) compared to river inflow zones (Cyanobacteria-dominated, 41 %), with intermediate levels in the main lake. Phosphorus explained 52 % of phytoplankton variability. Nutrient and sediment inputs from inflow rivers were identified as primary source of elevated lake nutrient and solid levels. Geographic distance-decay analysis suggested that external transport dominated phytoplankton sources during wet seasons, a pattern potentially applicable to other unidirectional-flow floodplain-lake. These findings enhance understanding of plankton dynamics and causes in floodplain-lake system, providing a basis for mitigating eutrophication risks from upstream rivers.
