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Eutrophication status of the Daning River within the Three Gorges Reservoir and its controlling factors before and after experimental impoundment

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Abstract

We evaluated 4-year-old data set to assess the trophic state and the controlling factors of the TGR during different experimental impounding (January 2005 to December 2005, stage I–stage II; January 2007 to December 2007, stage II–stage III; January 2009 to December 2009, stage III–stage IV) and normal operating (January 2011 to December 2011, stage IV) periods. The trophic state indices (TSITP) increased in the study area after TGR impoundment, and the TSISD and TSICHL did not significantly change after TGR impoundment; the values of TSICHL only increased at S1 (upstream sampling sites) after the TGR impoundment. The TSISD values in the Daning River (S1, S2, and S3) and the main stream of the TGR (S4) showed similar seasonal variations, with the highest values observed in the flood seasons, followed by the normal seasons and the dry seasons in descending order. The TSICHL only values varied substantially among the three seasons in the backwater area of the Daning River (S2), with the highest value occurring in the flood seasons, followed by dry seasons and normal seasons. The differences in the trophic state indices became smaller between the three seasons after TGR impoundment. The values of TSITP and TSISD showed similar spatial variances, with the highest value observed at S4, followed by S3, S2, and S1 in descending order. The TSICHL values were higher at S2 than at S3, S1, and S4. The results showed that the phosphorus and nonalgal turbidity limit trophic status of the mainstream of TGR and Daning River before and after experimental impoundment.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the following agencies for supporting our work: the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51209190, 41401586), the International Science and Technology Cooperation Program of China (2014DFE70070), the National Basic Research Program of China (2014CB460601), and the National Science and Technology Major Project (2014ZX07104-006-001).

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Drinking Water Source Protection, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing, 100012, China

      Jia-Lei Zhang, Li-Jing Wang & Bing-Hui Zheng

    2. Key Laboratory of Ecological Remediation of Lakes and Rivers and Algal Utilization of Hubei Province, School of Civil Architecture and Environmental Engineering, Hubei University of Technology, Wuhan, 430068, China

      Jia-Lei Zhang, De-Fu Liu & Zheng-Jian Yang

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    Correspondence to Bing-Hui Zheng.

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    Jia-Lei Zhang and Li-Jing Wang have contributed equally to this study as first co-authors.

    This article is part of a Topical Collection in Environmental Earth Sciences on “Environmental Research of the Three Gorges Reservoir”.

    Guest edited by Binghui Zheng, Shengrui Wang, Yanwen Qin, Stefan Norra, and Xiafu Liu.

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    Zhang, JL., Wang, LJ., Zheng, BH. et al. Eutrophication status of the Daning River within the Three Gorges Reservoir and its controlling factors before and after experimental impoundment. Environ Earth Sci 75, 1182 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-016-5931-8

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