Functional phytoplankton distribution in hypertrophic systems across water body size

Abstract

Distribution of algae was studied in a series of water bodies ranging from 10−2 to ~109 m2 in the lowland region of the Carpathian basin in a late summer period. It has been demonstrated that lake size has pronounced impact on the morphological and chemical properties of the water bodies, and acting through these variables it shapes the distribution of the various algal groups in the water bodies of different sizes. Changes of the relative abundance of the various algal groups along the spatial scale showed four apparently distinct patterns. We found increasing relative abundance of heterocytic cyanobacteria, dinoflagellates and those taxa which have no capability of active locomotion and are characterised by high sinking rate in the large water bodies. The flagellated algae (Chlamydomonas spp., euglenophytes, Synura spp.) and the tichoplanktonic elements were characteristic for small-sized water bodies. Most of the chrysophytes and several other flagellated taxa showed hump-shaped distribution along the size scale of water bodies. The group of large colonial flagellated chlorophytes, non-heterocytic filamentous cyanobacteria and filamentous chlorophytes occasionally occurred in high relative abundance both in small and large-sized water bodies. Our findings suggest that water body size has pronounced impact on the composition of algal assemblages.