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Phytoplankton assemblages in a complex system of interconnected reservoirs: the role of water transport in dispersal

  • TRENDS IN AQUATIC ECOLOGY II
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Abstract

Phytoplankton in a complex network of reservoirs for drinking water supply was sampled in the dry and flood seasons to understand the role of dispersal through hydrochory and of environmental filters in determining the phytoplankton abundance and composition. The main assumptions tested in the present study are that (i) phytoplankton structure in these waterbodies is strongly dependent on the transportation with the river waters flowing through them and (ii) the importance of this stochastic transportation is decreasing as the connectivity with the river decreases allowing environmental filters to shape phytoplankton structure. The multivariate analysis showed that although phytoplankton was inoculated largely by Pearl River water inputs and inflow among the system, the hydraulic architecture of the reservoir network shaped and modulated the composition and abundance of phytoplankton.

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Acknowledgements

Funding from the Science and Technology Project of Guangdong Province (No. 2013B080500022), the National Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (No. 41403061) and the Science and Technology Project of Guangdong Province (No. 2016A030313098) is acknowledged. Comments from two anonymous reviewers contributed to the improvement of this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Hydrobiology, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, People’s Republic of China

    Ren Hu, Xueke Duan, Liang Peng & Boping Han

  2. Section of Botany and Plant Ecology, Department of Biological, Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technologies, University of Palermo, Via Archirafi 38, 90123, Palermo, Italy

    Luigi Naselli-Flores

Authors
  1. Ren Hu
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  2. Xueke Duan
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  3. Liang Peng
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  4. Boping Han
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  5. Luigi Naselli-Flores
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Correspondence to Liang Peng or Luigi Naselli-Flores.

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Guest editors: Koen Martens, Sidinei M. Thomaz, Diego Fontaneto & Luigi Naselli-Flores / Emerging Trends in Aquatic Ecology II

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Hu, R., Duan, X., Peng, L. et al. Phytoplankton assemblages in a complex system of interconnected reservoirs: the role of water transport in dispersal. Hydrobiologia 800, 17–30 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-017-3146-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-017-3146-y

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