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Time series relationships between chlorophyll-a, physicochemical parameters, and nutrients in the Eastern Harbour of Alexandria, Egypt

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Abstract

The Eastern Harbour of Alexandria, on the Egyptian Mediterranean coast, is characterized by environmental complications due to different types of anthropogenic stressors associated with water dynamics inside the harbor as well as the rapid water exchange with the open sea. These conditions caused chronic eutrophication conditions, with variable levels in the long term. The present study followed daily some physicochemical parameters, nutrients, and phytoplankton biomass, for a complete year. The results indicate coincidence on the short-time scale between the nutrients, phytoplankton biomass, pH, and dissolved oxygen. Spearman’s correlation illustrated strong positive correlations between algal blooms and both pH and dissolved oxygen. The present study recorded twelve separate algal blooms, with an average of chlorophyll-a > 16.7 μg/L, confirming the continuity of high eutrophication in the Eastern Harbour. The seasonal Mann–Kendall tests showed that summer attained significant increasing trends for chlorophyll-a, silicate, nitrite, and nitrate, while winter has a significant decreasing trend for chlorophyll-a and pH.

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Data availability

Some of the data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article and its supplementary files. The other datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, Queen’s University, Ellis Hall, 58 University Avenue, Kingston, ON, K7L 3N6, Canada

    Pascale Champagne & Shuang Liang

  2. Department of Oceanography, Faculty of Science, University of Alexandria, Alexandria, 21511, Egypt

    Mohamed M. Dorgham & Nashwa A. Shaaban

  3. National Institute of Applied Sciences—Lyon, 20 Avenue Albert Einstein, 69621, Villeurbanne Cedex, France

    Gabrielle Favreau

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  1. Pascale Champagne
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  2. Mohamed M. Dorgham
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  3. Shuang Liang
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  4. Gabrielle Favreau
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  5. Nashwa A. Shaaban
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Contributions

Pascale Champagne: Statistical analysis, data curation, and writing—original draft. Mohamed M. Dorgham: Conceptualization, methodology, investigation, resources, writing—original draft, writing—visualization, supervision. Shuang Liang: Statistical analysis, data curation, and writing—original draft. Gabrielle Favreau: Statistical analysis, data curation, and writing—original draft. Nashwa A. Shaaban: Conceptualization, methodology, validation, formal analysis, investigation, data curation, resources, writing—original draft, writing—review and editing, visualization, supervision.

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Correspondence to Nashwa A. Shaaban.

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Champagne, P., Dorgham, M.M., Liang, S. et al. Time series relationships between chlorophyll-a, physicochemical parameters, and nutrients in the Eastern Harbour of Alexandria, Egypt. Environ Monit Assess 193, 826 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-021-09604-y

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