Eutrophication Level Research Articles

Análise das correlações entre nitrogênio total e clorofila a em reservatórios do Ceará/Brasil

ABSTRACT Chlorophyll a (Chla) concentration is an important indicator to characterize algal biomass, reflecting water quality and the level of eutrophication of aquatic environments. This study analyzed 4315 total nitrogen (TN) and Chla samples in 155 reservoirs in Ceará, Brazil. Relationships were obtained between TN and Chla through simple linear regression and classified according to the statistical performance of the coefficient of determination (R²). The dynamics of these correlations were examined by analyzing the variance between classification groups concerning watershed, reservoir size, coefficient of variability, and trophic state. The concentration of pollutants was influenced by seasonality, which increased significantly from the wet to the dry period in most basins. The coefficients of determination between Chla and TN for the watersheds followed the trends of classic curves in the literature, with satisfactory models (R² > 0.3) in most reservoirs (53.3%). The variance analysis attested that the models’ performance was affected by the basins, the volumetric variation, and the change in the trophic state levels. There was no significant variance of R² between reservoirs of different sizes.

Machine Learning for Water Quality Assessment Based on Macrophyte Presence

The ecological state of the Danube River, as the world’s most international river basin, will always be the focus of scientists in the field of ecology and environmental engineering. The concentration of orthophosphate anions in the river is one of the main indicators of the ecological state, i.e., water quality and level of eutrophication. The sedentary nature and ability to survive in river sections, combined with the presence of high levels of orthophosphate anions, make macrophytes an appropriate biological parameter for in situ prediction of in-river monitoring processes. However, a preliminary literature review identified a lack of comprehensive analysis that can enable the prediction of the ecological state of rivers using biological parameters as the input to machine learning (ML) techniques. This work focuses on comparing eight state-of-the-art ML classification models developed for this task. The data were collected at 68 sampling sites on both river sides. The predictive models use macrophyte presence scores as input variables, and classes of the ecological state of the Danube River based on orthophosphate anions, converted into a binary scale, as outputs. The results of the predictive model comparisons show that support vector machines and tree-based models provided the best prediction capabilities. They are also a low-cost and sustainable solution to assess the ecological state of the rivers.

Divergent roles of herbivory in eutrophying forests

Ungulate populations are increasing across Europe with important implications for forest plant communities. Concurrently, atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition continues to eutrophicate forests, threatening many rare, often more nutrient-efficient, plant species. These pressures may critically interact to shape biodiversity as in grassland and tundra systems, yet any potential interactions in forests remain poorly understood. Here, we combined vegetation resurveys from 52 sites across 13 European countries to test how changes in ungulate herbivory and eutrophication drive long-term changes in forest understorey communities. Increases in herbivory were associated with elevated temporal species turnover, however, identities of winner and loser species depended on N levels. Under low levels of N-deposition, herbivory favored threatened and small-ranged species while reducing the proportion of non-native and nutrient-demanding species. Yet all these trends were reversed under high levels of N-deposition. Herbivores also reduced shrub cover, likely exacerbating N effects by increasing light levels in the understorey. Eutrophication levels may therefore determine whether herbivory acts as a catalyst for the “N time bomb” or as a conservation tool in temperate forests.

WET SEASON CHLOROPHYLL a, b AND PHAEOPHYTIN a LEVELS IN THE WESTERN LAGOS LAGOON AND ITS CREEKS.

Algae are known to contain a wide array of pigments that absorb light for photosynthesis and which are useful in measuring primary production levels. In this study, the levels of these algal pigments (Chlorophyll a, b and phaeophytin a) in the Lagos lagoon and adjoining creeks were investigated in relation to water chemistry of the water bodies. Fifteen sampling stations including four of the creeks were investigated for the study. For the creeks, chlorophyll a ranged from 9.6 to 23.3?g/L, chlorophyll b, 0.4 1.1ug/L and phaeophytin a, 1.1 2.9?g/L. For the open lagoon areas chlorophyll a ranged between 8.9 and 11.8?g/L, chlorophyll b, between 0.6 and 1.1ug/L and phaeophytin a between 0.7 and 3.4?g/L. The Pearson correlation co efficient matrix among chlorophyll a, b and phaeophytin a were all positive (r = 0.28 0.35). The positive correlation among all the three algal pigments points to their direct relationship. Chlorophyll a was negatively correlated with salinity. The levels of algal pigments increased as Nitrate (nutrient) and Total Suspended Solids increased, however chlorophyll a was negatively correlated with salinity and was higher in the creeks than the lagoon. Salinity was a limiting factor to algal production in the Lagos lagoon (especially in the wet season) chiefly because most phytoplankton forms at this time were (freshwater forms). Chlorophyll b levels indicated the presence of green algae and euglenoids within the study area. Phaeophytin a also increased with increasing floodwater inputs reflected by its correlation with Nitrate and Total Suspended Solids or detrital materials (r = 0.44, 0.60). The measurement of phytopigment content could also be a useful tool in the establishment of eutrophic levels within within aquatic ecosystems in Nigeria, particularly the Lagos lagoon complex

Dissolved oxygen concentration and eutrophication evaluation in Yamchi dam reservoir, Ardabil, Iran

One of the essential issues in the quality management of water resources is the determination of the level of eutrophication and dissolved oxygen in dam reservoirs and other water bodies. It is possible to study changes in dissolved oxygen concentration using qualitative models. In this study, CE-QUAL-W2, a two-dimensional model of hydrodynamics and water quality capable of predicting the behavior of aquatic ecosystems, has been used to simulate dissolved oxygen concentration and eutrophication. As a case study, the water quality of the Yamchi dam reservoir, located in Ardabil Province, has been qualitatively investigated using the CE-QUAL-W2 model. Based on the geographical location of the Yamchi dam reservoir, it includes warm monomictic basins. According to the results, the dissolved oxygen concentration in the simulation period varied between 0 and 12 mg/L. In autumn and winter, this concentration was almost uniform at various depths. However, in summer, a sharp decrease in dissolved oxygen concentration, to less than 2 mg/L in the bottom layers, was observed, which is due to the presence of nutrients. Regarding eutrophication, the Yamchi dam reservoir is one of the eutrophic reservoirs, and practical strategies should be employed to improve these conditions. Recommended strategies include reducing the retention time of water in the reservoir, dewatering from the underlying layers during the thermal stratification period, and preventing the entry of agricultural drains into the inlet tributaries of the reservoir.

Land Used Mapping using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) along Parit Rasipan Drainage System

Excess nutrients accelerate the growth of plants and algae in water sources, leading to environmental issues like flow retardation (flood), a decrease in the amount of oxygen in the water, and a decline in the quality of the water. Therefore, the goal of this study is to identify the qualityParit Rasipan drainage system's eutrophic level in terms of temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, and turbidity; and to analyse an NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) image taken by unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and using Agisoft photoscan software. As a result, four sampling locations—residential (S1), industrial (S2), agricultural (S3), and farming (S4)—have been chosen for water quality sampling and analysis along the Parit Rasipan drainage system. The HACH method wasused to analyse water samples that have been obtained according to the Standard Methods for Water and Wastewater Examinations. It was found that agricultural zone waspoor water quality compared residential, industrial and farmingzoneswithmeasurements of 3.82 mg/L, 3.09, 25.57 °C, and 14.6 NTU, respectively, the agricultural zone hasthe highest values for thefour metrics of dissolved oxygen, pH, temperature, and turbidity. This scenario could be due to the usage of the fertilizerto cultivate the oil palmcontributed toParit rasipan drainage system (S3)which resulted in asubstantial amount of eutrophication. Hence, the use of UAVs and the agisoft photoscan programme has considerably improved the mapping of the water quality metrics and eutrophic level.

Water quality assessment of Lake Burullus, Egypt, utilizing statistical and GIS modeling as environmental hydrology applications.

GIS is a very powerful tool for analyzing huge amount of data and connecting them with the geography; moreover, recently, there is great advancement in the field. The main objective of this study is to assess the water quality (WQ) and trophic status (TS) conditions of Lake Burullus, Egypt, using statistical modeling (PCA/FA and CA), WQ index (L-WQI), and trophic status index (Carlson TSI and TRIX) approaches, in addition to using GIS tools for building models able to automatically calculate the various indices and producing color coded maps for the lake. The results indicated that PCA/FA grouped the twenty-four WQ parameters into nine principal components explaining 72.6% of the total variance, domestic, and agriculture pollution were dominant. CA divided the twelve sampling stations into most and least polluted groups. The lake WQ was classified as a "Very Poor," according to L-WQI. Moreover, the results of the Carlson TSI and TRIX indices were coincided and classified the eutrophication levels in the lake as "Hyper-Eutrophic" and "Elevated Trophic," respectively. Based on the results of this study, Lake Burullus needs urgent plans for recovering its WQ. Pre-treatment for its drains' effluents and implementing of a periodical WQ monitoring program are highly recommended.

Behavioral plasticity mediates adaptation to changes in food provisioning following the COVID-19 lockdown in black-headed gulls (Larus ridibundus)

The 2020 COVID-19 lockdown provides an opportunity to assess how the anthropause affected the behavior of birds. Black-headed gulls (Larus ridibundus) wintering at Dianchi Lake (Yunnan Province, southwestern China) prefer to forage on easily accessible human-provided food at various sites along the lake. Following the closure of the lake because of the pandemic, synthetic food was provided at a single location. We expected that the home range size and distribution of gulls would change in response to these changes in food provisioning. A total of 91 gulls were tagged with satellite transmitters in November 2018 and March 2019, and their movements were tracked during the winter months. We analyzed their home range size and spatial distribution in four periods, SCP2019, SOP2019, SCP2020, and SOP2020 (Scenic Opening/Closing Period in 2019/2020), and the difference between SOP2019 and SCP2019 was used as the control group. The eutrophication level in the wintering periods “Nov. 2018–Apr. 2019” and “Oct. 2019–Apr. 2020” was determined using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), and the coverage ratio of algal blooms and NDVI were used as indicators of the amount of naturally available food. The home range sizes of gulls were reduced in SCP2020 compared with SOP2019, SCP2019, and SOP2020. The gulls were most abundant in the 600–900 m buffer zone and least abundant in the 0–300 m buffer zone in SCP2019; they were most abundant in the 0–300 m buffer zone and least abundant in the 900–2000 m buffer zone in SCP2020. These patterns were consistent with variation in the NDVI and the coverage ratio of algal blooms among buffer zones. Changes in wintering behaviors in SCP2020 relative to other periods suggested that gulls modified their behavior following anthropause-related changes in the distribution and provisioning of food. Our findings provide insights into the role of behavioral plasticity in mediating adaptation to changes in human activities in birds.

Biting the hand that feeds: Anthropogenic drivers interactively make mosquitoes thrive

Anthropogenic stressors on the environment are increasing at unprecedented rates and include urbanization, nutrient pollution, water management, altered land use and climate change. Their effects on disease vectors are poorly understood. A series of full factorial experiments investigated how key human induced abiotic pressures, and interactions between these, affect population parameters of the cosmopolitan disease vector, Culex pipiens s.l. Selected pressures include eutrophication, salinity, mean temperature, and temperature fluctuation. Data were collected for each individual pressure and for potential interactions between eutrophication, salinization and temperature. All experiments assessed survival, time to pupation, time to emergence, sex-ratio and ovipositioning behavior. The results show that stressors affect vector survival, may speed up development and alter female to male ratio, although large differences between stressors exist to quite different extents. While positive effects of increasing levels of eutrophication on survival were consistent, negative effects of salinity on survival were only apparent at higher temperatures, thus indicating a strong interaction effect between salinization and temperature. Temperature had no independent effect on larval survival. Overall, increasing eutrophication and temperatures, and the fluctuations thereof, lowered development rate, time to pupation and time to emergence while increasing levels of salinity increased development time. Higher levels of eutrophication positively impacted egg-laying behavior; the reverse was found for salinity while no effects of temperature on egg-laying behavior were observed. Results suggest large and positive impacts of anthropogenically induced habitat alterations on mosquito population dynamics. Many of these effects are exacerbated by increasing temperatures and fluctuations therein. In a world where eutrophication and salinization are increasingly abundant, mosquitoes are likely important benefactors. Ultimately, this study illustrates the importance of including multiple and combined stressors in predictive models as well as in prevention and mitigation strategies, particularly because they resonate with possible, but yet underdeveloped action plans.

Extraction of macrophyte community spatial variation allows to adapt the macrophyte biological index for rivers to the conditions of the middle Dnipro river

The aquatic macrophytes are widely used to indicate the trophic status of water bodies. For Ukrainian water bodies, which represent a wide ecological diversity, the indicator scales of the trophicity regime have not been developed. The purpose of the research is to develop an approach to adapt the Macrophyte Biological Index for Rivers (MBIR) for the conditions of the middle course of the Dnipro River. The difficulty in solving the problem is that the effect of eutrophication occurs against the variability of a complex of environmental factors and processes of natural and anthropogenic origin. The extraction of the eutrophication gradient is a prerequisite for assessing the response of plants to this factor and for constructing adequate indicator scales. The influence of natural factors on aquatic macrophyte communities is assumed to be spatially structured due to the long-term coevolution of the environment and biota. The pure plant response to the effects of eutrophication was assessed after extracting the spatial component of plant community variation. The pure response of aquatic macrophytes to the eutrophication factor provided an opportunity to construct an adequate scale for indicating the trophic status of water bodies, which correlates strongly with the scores of the MBIR. The studies were carried out within the Dnipro-Orilskiy Nature Reserve in the waters of the Dnipro reservoir, which was created on the Dnipro River. The aquatic macrophyte surveys were conducted at 76 locations. Studies were conducted in 50–100 m long plots along the shoreline. The remote sensing data from the Sentinel-2 satellite was used to estimate the indexes of the eutrophication, turbidity, and transparency of the water. The distance-based Moran's eigenvector maps were produced from the geographic coordinates of the sampling points to be used as the spatial variables. Three versions of the Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) were performed: 1) the CCA with the environmental factors and spatial variables as constrained predictors; 2) the CCA with the spatial variables as constrained predictors; 3) the CCA with the environmental factors as constrained predictors and the spatial variables as conditional predictors. The species scores on the corresponding ordinate axes were considered to estimate the species optimum. The variations of the species scores on the corresponding ordinate axes were considered to estimate the species tolerance. Species scores were converted into the CSd indicator values, and tolerance was converted into the Ed coefficients of ecological amplitude. The indicator values and environmental amplitude coefficients obtained for the ordination accounting for spatial effects had no statistically significant correlation coefficients with other indicator scales. The CSd indicator values that were obtained for community ordination accounting for pure environmental effects were statistically significantly correlated with the MBIR and other of the indicator scales. The coefficient of environmental amplitude Ed was negatively correlated with the E. The MBIR revealed that the level of eutrophication in 102 locations (67.1%) was estimated as Bad, in 37 locations (24.3%) it was estimated as Poor, and in 13 locations (8.6%) it was estimated as Moderate. The extraction of the spatial component of macrophyte community variation resulted in the evaluation of indicator scales that correlated statistically significantly with the original MBIR scale.

Are there environmental benefits derived from coastal aquaculture of Sargassum fusiforme?

Seaweed farming may alleviate coastal eutrophication and acidification, and contribute to the coastal ecosystems. Sargassum fusiforme has nutritional and medicinal benefits, and its cultivation in China has expanded in recent years. However, the environmental benefits of coastal S. fusiforme farming to the surface seawater remain unclear. In this study, we compared cultured and non-cultured areas, during the culture and non-culture seasons, in the main S. fusiforme coastal growing area of China. The results showed that S. fusiforme farming slightly increased the dissolved oxygen content and pH of surface seawater but decreased the nutrient content and chemical oxygen demand. Furthermore, the eutrophication level of seawater decreased by 36% on average. In the later stage of cultivation, with large S. fusiforme biomass, the eutrophication level of the surface seawater decreased by >50%. In addition, S. fusiforme farming increased the phytoplankton biomass and diversity index, and in conjunction with environmental factors, altered the phytoplankton community structure. After the harvest of S. fusiforme, the dominant phytoplankton mostly comprised red tide microalgae, and their abundance was relatively large. Experiments and harvest evaluations showed that S. fusiforme cultivation removed 8082 t of carbon, 642 t of nitrogen, and 61 t of phosphorus from coastal China during one culture period. This study showed that large-scale cultivation of S. fusiforme can slightly improve coastal surface seawater quality by removing nutrients, alleviating eutrophication, and actively altering phytoplankton community structure. These environmental benefits may play an important role in maintaining the health of coastal ecosystems.

Exploring the Cumulative Selectivity of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Phytoplankton, Water, and Sediment in Typical Urban Water Bodies

To understand the interactions among eutrophication, algal bloom, and POPs (persistent organic pollutants) in freshwater ecosystems, the cumulative selectivity of PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) in phytoplankton, water, and sediment with different eutrophication level waters were identified in a typical plain river network region located in Nanjing City. Results showed that a total of 33 algal species belonging to 27 genera and 4 phyla were identified in 15 sites of urban water bodies, and most of them belonged to the type Cyanobacteria–Bacillariophyta. The eutrophication level of these rivers and lakes led to the sample site specificity of algal composition and abundance. The planktonic algae mainly accumulated the 2-ring and 3-ring PAHs, and the sediment mainly enriched the high-ring PAHs. However, the enrichment capacity of planktonic algae on PAHs was much higher than that of sediment. Cyanophyta and some species of Bacillariophyta and Chlorophyta in mesotrophic (βm) and meso-eutrophic water bodies (ßαm) preferentially accumulated lower-ring PAHs (naphthalene, acenaphthylene, and phenanthrene). Some other specific algae species, such as Euglenophyta, some species of Bacillariophyta, and most Chlorophyta in mesotrophic and moderate eutrophic water bodies, had strong capacities to enrich high-ring PAHs subsuming benzo[a]anthracene, chrysene, and anthracene. The eutrophication level of water bodies affected the cumulative selectivity of PAHs by shaping the site specificity of phytoplankton composition, which may be related to water quality, sediment characteristics, phytoplankton composition, and the algal cell walls.

The pulsating soft coral Xenia umbellata shows high resistance to warming when nitrate concentrations are low

The resistance of hard corals to warming can be negatively affected by nitrate eutrophication, but related knowledge for soft corals is scarce. We thus investigated the ecophysiological response of the pulsating soft coral Xenia umbellata to different levels of nitrate eutrophication (control = 0.6, medium = 6, high = 37 μM nitrate) in a laboratory experiment, with additional warming (27.7 to 32.8 °C) from days 17 to 37. High nitrate eutrophication enhanced cellular chlorophyll a content of Symbiodiniaceae by 168%, while it reduced gross photosynthesis by 56%. After additional warming, polyp pulsation rate was reduced by 100% in both nitrate eutrophication treatments, and additional polyp loss of 7% d−1 and total fragment mortality of 26% was observed in the high nitrate eutrophication treatment. Warming alone did not affect any of the investigated response parameters. These results suggest that X. umbellata exhibits resistance to warming, which may facilitate ecological dominance over some hard corals as ocean temperatures warm, though a clear negative physiological response occurs when combined with nitrate eutrophication. This study thus confirms the importance of investigating combinations of global and local factors to understand and manage changing coral reefs.

Estimation of sulfur fate and contribution to VSC emissions from lakes during algae decay

Algae decay is an important process influencing environmental variables and emissions of volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs) in eutrophic lakes. However, effects of algae decay on VSC emissions from eutrophic lakes as well as fate of algae-derived sulfur remain poorly understood. In this study, simulated algae-sediment systems were used to explore the flow and distribution of sulfur during algae decay. VSCs including hydrogen sulfide (H2S), methanethiol (CH3SH), carbon disulfide (CS2) and dimethyl sulfide ((CH3)2S) were detected during algae decay, which increased with algae biomass and eutrophic levels in lakes. During algae decay, the highest H2S, CH3SH and (CH3)2S emission rates of 10.45, 21.82 and 43.26 μg d−1 occurred in the first 1–2 days, respectively, while the highest CS2 emission rates were observed between days 8 and 11. The maximum emissions of H2S and CS2 from algae decay were estimated at 0.51 and 0.35 mg m−2 d−1 in Lake Taihu, accounting for 1.57% and 0.69% of the total H2S and CS2 emissions of in situ, respectively. Algae decay could significantly increase the contents of total sulfur and total carbon in sediments by 2.90%–21.11% and 4.23%–45.05%, respectively. The VSC emissions during algae decay could be predicted using the multiple regression models with the contents of total carbon, total nitrogen and sulfur-containing compounds in sediments. Partial least squares path modelling demonstrated that algae decay had a low direct effect on VSC emissions with a strength of 0.06, while it had a significant influence on environmental variables with a strength of 0.63, which could affect VSC emissions with a strength of 0.85, indicating VSC emissions from eutrophic lakes were affected by the environmental variables rather than the direct influence of algae decay. These findings illustrated the mechanisms of VSC emissions during algae decay and provided insights into VSC control and mitigation for eutrophic lakes.

Community characteristics of phytoplankton and eutrophication assessment in Tianjin section, downstream of Haihe River Basin

With the aim of exploring the features of the phytoplankton community and eutrophication status in the lower reaches of the Haihe River Basin near Tianjin, sampling surveys were carried out in May, July and September of 2021. The results showed 53 dominant phytoplankton species in the survey area, of which 36 species were found in May, while 28 were found both in July and September. Ten dominant species were highlighted in the surveys, mainly belonging to Cyanophyta, Chlorophyta, Bacillariophyta, and Cryptophyta. The regions with relatively higher levels of phytoplankton biomass and abundance were Duliujian River, Qilihai Wetland and New Chaobai River, while the highest species richness and biodiversity occurred in Yuqiao Reservoir, Duliujian River, New Chaobai River and Ji Canal. The highest TN content was observed in Duliujian River, and the highest TP, chl-a, CODMn and EI were recorded in New Chaobai River. In contrast, the region with the lowest level of eutrophication was Yuqiao Reservoir. Correlation analysis and RDA analysis showed that the eutrophication assessment indices affecting the phytoplankton community and distribution of dominant species were mainly TN, chl-a and CODMn in May and July, while TN, TP, chl-a, CODMn and EI were the most influential in September.

A regional model to predict the occurrence of natural events: Application to phytoplankton blooms in continental waterbodies

There are significant social, economic and environmental costs related to phytoplankton blooms, particularly when they are dominated by cyanobacteria. However, the climatic, physiographic and morphological drivers involved in bloom phenology create complex spatiotemporal patterns in biomass and taxonomic composition, making monitoring and forecasting challenging. This complexity also limits the ability of process-based algorithms to model bloom phenology. Stochastic approaches and predictive modelling are valuable risk management tools for natural events. This paper presents a novel model to estimate the conditional density of phytoplankton blooms based on environmental covariates, namely the physiography and climate descriptors of lake watersheds. The goal was to provide a tool to project future scenarios of bloom phenology in response to climate change and anthropogenic developments, and to test the efficiency of mitigating approaches. Specifically, we developed a non-stationary regional model to estimate the probability of bloom occurrence in 580 lakes in Quebec, Canada, and to study the impact of physiographic or climate changes over our reference period and future horizons. Results show that the regional model is more precise and accurate than local models, which are usually used in frequency analyses of extreme values. Simulations conducted for different climatic and physiographic scenarios on the watershed of Lake Brome indicate a 65% increase in bloom frequency on the horizon of years 2080–2100. The model also evaluates the effects of different environmental disturbances on bloom phenology, such as agriculture or settlement increase in the watershed. Disturbance case studies were carried out on lakes with different trophic levels, physiographic and climatic characteristics. Simulations indicate that bloom frequency in a highly urbanized meso-eutrophic lake (Lake Brome) and a eutrophic lake with a watershed dominated by agriculture (Missisquoi Bay) would be more responsive to changes in climate rather than land cover, although physiographic disturbances would still generate considerable effects. A meso-eutrophic lake with a watershed dominated by forest (Lake Aylmer) would neither respond to increases in agriculture nor settlement but would be most affected by increases in degree days. Another scenario focused on a highly forested oligo-mesotrophic lake (Lake St. Jean). Bloom phenology in this lake was most affected by disturbances in agriculture or settlement land use. Overall, these results suggest that lakes with a high level of eutrophication are the least responsive to the pressures resulting from land cover changes.

The response of benthic diatom community to anthropogenic eutrophication of a river basin under agricultural influence in NE China

Anthropogenic eutrophication has universally threatened river ecological health and has been a key issue in river conservation. Agricultural sewage, which leads to increased nutrient levels and results in the loss of ecological function and biodiversity, results from the growth of agricultural activity and human populations. Consequently, attention has increasingly been focused on developing a relevant tool to describe the relationship between the biotic communities and anthropogenic eutrophication. The benthic diatom community has been widely used as an effective tool for indicating the ecological status of river systems especially in the context of recent international Water Framework Directive policies (WFD). In this study, a statistical method consisting of trophic status index (TSI), Specific Polluosensitivity Index (IPS), Descy Index (DES), redundancy analysis (RDA), and the geographic information system (GIS) technique was conducted to explore the response of benthic diatom community to anthropogenic eutrophication. Initially, the TSI, IPS and DES were determined to differentiate the trophic gradient along a gradient in agricultural intensity. Subsequently, RDA was used to identify spatial distribution patterns of environmental parameters and benthic diatom communities. Finally, the RDA scores as calculated and spatially interpolated were applied to GIS technology to reveal the response of benthic diatom communities to anthropogenic impacts along the trophic gradient. Our results revealed that the studied basin mostly exceeded the eutrophic level. Two different patterns of diatom communities response to ecological gradient were identified based on RDA, one representing the agriculture eutrophication discharges in electrical conductivity (EC) and the other representing organic pollution as chemical oxygen demand (COD). The developed method in this study highlight that the EC was more effective than the nutrient indices in determining diatom distribution in a eutrophic agriculturally-influenced river system.

Viral life strategies in a heavily anthropized tropical lagoon.

Ecological traits of aquatic microorganisms have been poorly investigated in tropical latitudes, especially in lagoons, which are often subjected to strong anthropogenic influence, conducive to microbial development. In this study, we examined the abundance of both viral and bacterial communities, as well as their interactions (lytic and lysogenic infections) in the water and sediment of seven main stations of the Ebrié Lagoon (Ivory Coast) with contrasting levels of eutrophication. The highest bacterial and viral concentrations in both planktonic and benthic samples were found in the most eutrophicated stations, where viral lytic infections also exhibited their highest values. Conversely, the highest fractions of inducible lysogens were measured in the most oligotrophic stations, suggesting that these two main viral life strategies are mutually exclusive in this lagoon. Our findings also revealed the importance that nutrients (especially ammonium) play as drivers of the interactions between viruses and their bacterial hosts in tropical lagoons.

Distribution Coefficient of QNs in Urban Typical Water and Its Main Environmental Influencing Factors

Sediment is the main storage medium of antibiotics in a water environment, and a growing body of research has focused on the distribution behavior of antibiotics in water-sediment. However, most of the previous studies were based on laboratory simulation, and less attention was paid to the distribution behavior of antibiotics in a natural water environment and its correlation with environmental factors. Thus, the surface water and sediment in Shijiazhuang were taken as the research object for this study. The temporal and spatial distribution characteristics of quinolone (QNs) antibiotics in Shijiazhuang water were analyzed by using high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS), calculating the distribution coefficients of quinolone (QNs) antibiotics in water and sediment, and confirming the main environmental factors influencing the distribution coefficient in natural water. The results showed that:① the content of ΣQNs in water and sediment ranged from 8.0 to 4.4×103 ng·L-1 and 16 to 2.2×103 ng·g-1 in Shijiazhuang water, whereas the primary QNs in water and sediment were enrofloxacin (ENR) and ofloxacin (OFL), respectively. ② The total concentrations of ΣQNs in Shijiazhuang water showed a tendency of being higher in December (1.0×104 ng·L-1) than in April (5.5×103 ng·L-1), and QNs in sediment were also higher in December (7.8×103 ng·g-1) than in April (6.2×103 ng·g-1). ③ The distribution coefficient of QNs in Shijiazhuang water varied from 34 to 2.9×105 L·kg-1 and showed a trend of being greater in December than in April. ④ The results of correlation analysis showed that total nitrogen (TN), nitrate nitrogen (NO3--N), nitrite nitrogen (NO2--N), and ammonia nitrogen (NH4+-N) were significantly correlated with most distribution coefficients of QNs[OFL, norfloxacin (NOR), ENR, difloxacin (DIF), and oxolinic acid (OXO)], whereas temperature (T), total organic carbon (TOC), and total dissolved solids (TDS) were significantly correlated with individual distribution coefficients of QNs[marbofloxacin (MAR) and DIF]. Therefore, the eutrophication level of water affects the distribution behavior of antibiotics in water-sediment.

Extending improvements of eutrophication and water quality via induced natural mixing after artificial mixing in a stratified reservoir

Induced (natural) mixing proposed by our teams can solve a big problem of low-energy water situation improvement of stratified reservoirs by minimizing operating periods of water-lifting aerators (WLAs) to advance a complete natural mixing. Here, the mechanisms influencing water situation via induced mixing were systematically explored using a combination of multi-water-environment assessment methods including trophic level index (TLI), water quality index (WQI), and minimum WQI (WQImin) based on long-term field data (i.e., non-operational and operational years of WLAs). The results showed that induced mixing after WLA deactivation improved the levels of eutrophication and water quality (into “light-eutrophic” and “good” status) with a decrease in TLI values (56.0–56.2) and increase in WQI (79.0–79.9) and WQImin (81.5–89.3) values, compared to mixing of the non-operational year (TLI: 69.6, WQI: 73.4, WQImin: 76.1). Induced mixing was launched by deactivating the WLAs in cooling seasons (i.e., in late September within a subtropical monsoon climate zone), which advanced and prolonged the periods of naturally complete mixing by 2–3 months. Water temperature (WT), Dissolved oxygen (DO), relative water column stability (RWCS) and inflow were primary drivers for the water situation succession in the study years. Induced mixing extended the well-oxygenated and mixed conditions (temperature difference <1.0 °C, DO > 8.5 mg/L, RWCS< 20) following artificial mixing to improve the water status from single index level (improvement of 18.8%–73.7% than mixing before the operational years) to integrated evaluation results by changing WT, DO, and RWCS. This study presents a successful case for energy-saving pollution control using mixing systems.