The potential persistence of abundant submerged macrophyte and phytoplankton in a shallow system at very high nutrients loading: results from a mesocosm study.

The potential persistence of abundant submerged macrophyte and phytoplankton in a shallow system at very high nutrients loading: results from a mesocosm study. Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2020 May 21;: Authors: Zhu M, Zhang X Abstract Shallow lakes are typically either in a clear water state with high abundance of submerged macrophytes or in a turbid state dominated by phytoplankton. A 10-week mesocosm experiment was set up to test the hypothesis that in a very shallow aquatic ecosystem impacted by very high nutrient loading, both submerged macrophytes and phytoplankton may be abundant. Nutrient levels, phytoplankton biomass (measured as chlorophyll a, Chl a), total suspended solids (TSS), inorganic suspended solids (ISS), and submerged macrophyte biomass were measured in three different treatments: DH (deep (1 m) water with very high nutrient loading), SH (very shallow (0.5 m) water with very high nutrient loading), and SL (very shallow (0.5 m) water with low nutrient loading). Of the three treatments, the DH mesocosms exhibited the highest nutrient, the TSS and ISS levels, the highest phytoplankton biomass, and the lowest submerged macrophyte biomass, while the lowest nutrient, the TSS and ISS levels, the lowest phytoplankton biomass, and the highest submerged macrophyte biomass were observed in the SL treatment. All measured parameters exhibited intermediate levels in the SH treatment. Our study demonstrates that in very shallow a...
Source: Environmental Science and Pollution Research International - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Tags: Environ Sci Pollut Res Int Source Type: research