Assessment of trophic status in Changjiang (Yangtze) River estuary

Abstract

The integrated methodology for the assessment of estuarine trophic status (ASSETS), which was extended and refined from the United States National Estuarine Eutrophication Assessment (NEEA), is a multi-parameter assessment system and has been widely used in eutrophication assessment in estuarine and coastal waters. The ASSETS was applied to evaluate the trophic status of the Changjiang (Yangtze) River estuary, one of the largest estuaries in the world. The following main results were obtained: (i) The estuarine export potential is "moderate susceptibility" due to the "moderate" dilution potential and "moderate" flushing potential; (ii) The overall human influence (OHI) index classified the impact of nutrients in the system as "high" due to the high level of nutrient discharge by the river which channels anthropogenic impacts in the catchments to the estuarine system; (iii) The overall eutrophic condition (OEC) in the estuary was classified into the "high" category due to frequent occurrence of nuisance and toxic algal blooms in the mixing and seawater zones; (iv) Since the nutrient loadings (e.g., DIN) in the river is expected to continue to increase in the near future following the population increase and rapid economic growth throughout the drainage basin, the nutrient-related symptoms in the estuary are likely to substantially worsen, which leads to the "worsen high" category for the definition of future outlook (DFO). The combinations of the three components (i.e., OHI, OEC, and DFO) lead to an overall grade as "bad" for the trophic status in the Changjiang River estuary.