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Community structure and ecological responses to hydrological changes in benthic algal assemblages in a regulated river: application of algal metrics and multivariate techniques in river management

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Abstract

The flow regime of the Wimmera River was substantially modified due to the construction of a water supply reservoir. Samples of diatoms and soft algae and measurements of water quality were analysed at ten sampling sites for 3 years (between February 2012 and November 2014) along the MacKenzie River, a tributary of the Wimmera River, in different seasons and under different flow regimes, to understand the spatial and temporal variation in the relationship between algal communities, water quality and stream condition. Baseline information on algal communities and water quality was collected during base flow conditions, while experiments on the effect of water releases on algal communities were based on flow regime variations (manipulated flow regimes), specifically on the algae community structure, water quality and ecosystem function. Algal species composition changed along the river under different flow regimes and different seasons. Under base flow, Bacillariophyta (diatoms) were more abundant upstream, and filamentous green algae were more abundant downstream. The results showed that the algal composition shifted downstream after water release events. Chlorophyta (green algae), Cyanophyta (blue-green algae) and Chrysophyta gradually increased from upstream to downstream under base flow conditions and before water releases, whereas diatoms were greater upstream and increased downstream after water releases. The results are presented to tailor discharge and duration of the river flows by amalgamation of consumptive and environmental flows to improve the condition of the stream thereby supplementing the flows dedicated to environmental outcomes.

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All data generated or analysed during this study are available upon request.

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Acknowledgements

Thanks to Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water (GWMWater, Australia), Federation University (Australia), Wimmera Catchment Management Authority (WCMA, Australia) and University of Tabriz (Iran). The authors would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers and the editor for their valuable comments and corrections that much improved the final version of the manuscript.

Funding

This project was funded by Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water (GWMWater, Australia), project number: 30096716.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Sciences, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Tabriz, 29 Bahman Blvd, Tabriz, 51666-14779, Iran

    Ehsan Atazadeh

  2. Institute of Environment, University of Tabriz, 29 Bahman Blvd, Tabriz, 51666-14779, Iran

    Ehsan Atazadeh

  3. School of Sciences, Psychology and Sport, Federation University, Ballarat, VIC, 3353, Australia

    Peter Gell & Peter Newall

  4. British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham, NG12 5GG, UK

    Keely Mills

  5. School of Engineering, IT and Physical Sciences, Federation University, Ballarat, VIC, 3353, Australia

    Andrew Barton

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  1. Ehsan Atazadeh
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Contributions

EA carried out main tasks including the experiment design, data writing and analysing and editing of the paper. PG carried out the experiment design and editing of the MS. KM carried out the data analysing and editing of the MS. AB carried out the experiment design. PN carried out the editing of the MS.

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Correspondence to Ehsan Atazadeh.

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Atazadeh, E., Gell, P., Mills, K. et al. Community structure and ecological responses to hydrological changes in benthic algal assemblages in a regulated river: application of algal metrics and multivariate techniques in river management. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 39805–39825 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-13546-w

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