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Functional phytoplankton distribution in hypertrophic systems across water body size

  • PHYTOPLANKTON & SPATIAL GRADIENTS
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Abstract

Distribution of algae was studied in a series of water bodies ranging from 10−2 to ~109 m2 in the lowland region of the Carpathian basin in a late summer period. It has been demonstrated that lake size has pronounced impact on the morphological and chemical properties of the water bodies, and acting through these variables it shapes the distribution of the various algal groups in the water bodies of different sizes. Changes of the relative abundance of the various algal groups along the spatial scale showed four apparently distinct patterns. We found increasing relative abundance of heterocytic cyanobacteria, dinoflagellates and those taxa which have no capability of active locomotion and are characterised by high sinking rate in the large water bodies. The flagellated algae (Chlamydomonas spp., euglenophytes, Synura spp.) and the tichoplanktonic elements were characteristic for small-sized water bodies. Most of the chrysophytes and several other flagellated taxa showed hump-shaped distribution along the size scale of water bodies. The group of large colonial flagellated chlorophytes, non-heterocytic filamentous cyanobacteria and filamentous chlorophytes occasionally occurred in high relative abundance both in small and large-sized water bodies. Our findings suggest that water body size has pronounced impact on the composition of algal assemblages.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Hungarian National Science Foundation (OTKA Nr. 104279) and by the Bolyai Fellowship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The authors were supported by TÁMOP-4.2.4.A/2-11-1-2012-0001, TÁMOP-4.2.1./B-09/1/KONV-2010-0007, TÁMOP-4.2.2/C-11/1/KONV-2012-0010 and TÁMOP-4.2.2/B-10-1-2010-0024 projects. The authors are grateful for the referees for their very constructive comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Tisza Research, MTA Centre for Ecological Research, 18/c, Bem square, Debrecen, 4026, Hungary

    Gábor Borics, Gábor Várbíró & Judit Görgényi

  2. MTA-DE Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Research Group, 1, Egyetem square, Debrecen, 4032, Hungary

    Béla Tóthmérész

  3. Department of Hydrobiology, University of Debrecen, 1, Egyetem square, Debrecen, 4032, Hungary

    István Grigorszky

  4. Water Quality Laboratory, Isotoptech Zrt., 18/c, Bem square, Debrecen, 4026, Hungary

    Andrea Czébely

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  1. Gábor Borics
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  2. Béla Tóthmérész
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  3. Gábor Várbíró
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  4. István Grigorszky
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  5. Andrea Czébely
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  6. Judit Görgényi
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Correspondence to Gábor Várbíró.

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Guest editors: Luigi Naselli-Flores & Judit Padisák / Biogeography and Spatial Patterns of Biodiversity of Freshwater Phytoplankton

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Borics, G., Tóthmérész, B., Várbíró, G. et al. Functional phytoplankton distribution in hypertrophic systems across water body size. Hydrobiologia 764, 81–90 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-015-2268-3

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