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Continuous hydrodynamic mixing weakens the dominance of Microcystis: evidences from microcosm and lab experiments

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Abstract

Hydrodynamic mixing is one of the important environment factors in determining phytoplankton community compositions. Here the influences of continuous hydrodynamic mixing on abundance, morphology, and dominance of Microcystis were investigated in microcosm and lab experiments. Our research results showed that Cyanophyta contributed 57.16% to the total biomass in control, but Chlorophyta was the dominant group in continuous hydrodynamic mixing (CHM) group, contributing 76.54% to the total biomass in the microcosm experiment. The average number of Microcystis in control was 1.95 folds in CHM group. However, the mean abundance of Scenedesmus quadricauda and Pseudanabaena limnetica in CHM was 2.47 and 2.97 folds in control. In the lab experiment, the average number of Microcystis flos-aquae in control was 2.97 folds in CHM group. The mean size of M. flos-aquae colony in control (34.65 μm) group were significantly bigger than that in the CHM (26.78 μm) group. This research results demonstrated that continuous hydrodynamic mixing weakened the dominance of Microcystis, but was beneficial for the others algae (S. quadricauda and P. limnetica) and is helpful in understanding the effect of hydrodynamic mixing on Microcystis blooms in freshwater ecosystem.

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Data availability

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available as they also form part of an ongoing study but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

This study was funded by the Water Pollution Control and Management Project (Grant No. 2017ZX07204-002-05) and the National Natural Scientific Foundation of China (Grant No. 41971062).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environment and Civil Engineering, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, China

    Guijun Yang, Wenwen Pan & Zheng Rui

  2. Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China

    Chunni Zhong & Xiangming Tang

  3. State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, China

    Ruipeng Yu

  4. Wuxi Taihu Lake Restoration Co., Ltd., Wuxi, 214062, China

    Weijian Qiu & Yun Guo

Authors
  1. Guijun Yang
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  2. Chunni Zhong
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  3. Wenwen Pan
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  4. Zheng Rui
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  5. Xiangming Tang
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  6. Ruipeng Yu
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  7. Weijian Qiu
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  8. Yun Guo
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Contributions

GJY analyzed and interpreted the algal data and was the major contributor in writing the manuscript. WWP, ZR, RPY, and YG measured the relevant physical and chemical parameters. CNZ proofread and revised the language and content of the manuscript. XMT and WJQ are main funders of the research. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Chunni Zhong.

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Yang, G., Zhong, C., Pan, W. et al. Continuous hydrodynamic mixing weakens the dominance of Microcystis: evidences from microcosm and lab experiments. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 15631–15641 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-16633-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-16633-0

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