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Different photochemical responses of phytoplankters from the large shallow Taihu Lake of subtropical China in relation to light and mixing

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Abstract

The maximum quantum yield of photosystem II was estimated from variable chlorophyll a fluorescence in samples of phytoplankton collected from the Taihu Lake in China to determine the responses of different phytoplankters to irradiance and vertical mixing. Meteorological and environmental variables were also monitored synchronously. The maximum quantum yield of three phytoplankton groups: cyanobacteria, chlorophytes, and diatoms/dinoflagellates, showed a similar diurnal change pattern. F v/F m decreased with a significant depth-dependent variation as irradiance increased during the morning and increased as irradiance declined in the afternoon. Furthermore, the rates of F v/F m depression were dependent upon the photon flux density, whereas the rates of recovery of F v/F m were dependent upon the historical photon density. Moreover, photoinhibition affected the instantaneous growth rates of phytoplankton. Although at noon cyanobacteria had a higher photoinhibition value (up to 41%) than chlorophytes (32%) and diatoms/dinoflagellates (34%) at the surface, no significant difference in diurnal growth rates among the three phytoplankton groups were observed indicating that cyanobacteria could photoacclimate better than chlorophytes and diatoms/dinoflagellates. In addition, cyanobacteria had a higher nonphotochemical quenching value than chlorophytes and diatoms/dinoflagellates at the surface at noon, which indicated that cyanobacteria were better at dissipating excess energy. The ratios of enclosed bottle samples F v/F m to free lake samples F v/F m showed different responses for the three phytoplankton groups to irradiance and vertical mixing when wind speed was approximately constant at about 3.0 m s−1. When wind speed was lower than 3.0 m s−1, cyanobacteria accumulated mainly at the surface and 0.3 m, because of their positive buoyancy, where diurnal growth rates of phytoplankton were relatively higher than those at 0.6 m and 0.9 m. Chlorophytes were homogenized completely by vertical mixing, while diatoms/dinoflagellates avoided active high irradiance by moving downward at noon, and then upward again when irradiance decreased. These results explain the dominance of cyanobacteria in Taihu Lake.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Taihu Lake Ecosystem Research Station for providing some necessary apparatus and Dr. Cao at Fordham University for his correction of the manuscript. The work was supported by the special program for Taihu Lake water pollution governing of Jiangsu Province (BK2007748), National Natural Science Foundation of China (40471045) and the 100-Researcher Program of CAS.

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  1. State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 73 Beijing East Road, Nanjing, 210008, P.R. China

    Min Zhang, Fanxiang Kong, Xiaodong Wu & Peng Xing

  2. Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100039, P.R. China

    Xiaodong Wu

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Correspondence to Fanxiang Kong.

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Zhang, M., Kong, F., Wu, X. et al. Different photochemical responses of phytoplankters from the large shallow Taihu Lake of subtropical China in relation to light and mixing. Hydrobiologia 603, 267–278 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-008-9277-4

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