Can relative abundance of diatoms (RAD) serve as an indicator for the water quality assessment in river-connected lakes? A case study at Dongting Lake

• Published in: Environmental sciences Europe 2024-12, Vol.36 (1), p.106-106, Article 106
• Main Authors: Yan, Guanghan, Yin, Xueyan, Wang, Xing, Huang, Minsheng
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abundance; Adaptability; Ammonia; ammonium nitrogen; Assessment; Bacillariophyceae; Biochemical oxygen demand; case studies; Chemical oxygen demand; China; Correlation analysis; Diatoms; Dissolved oxygen; Dongting lake; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecotoxicology; Electrical conductivity; Electrical resistivity; Environment; environmental chemistry and ecology; indicator species; Indices; Lakes; Marine microorganisms; nutrition; Oxygen; Plankton; Pollution; Pollution index; Pollution tolerance; Potassium permanganate; Progress in ecotoxicology; Quality assessment; Quality control; Relative abundance; Rivers; Trophic levels; Water quality; Water quality assessments; Water temperature
• ISSN: 2190-4715; 2190-4715
• DOI: 10.1186/s12302-024-00927-4

In this study, 15 sampling sites were set up in Dongting Lake, a typical river-connected lake in China, to investigate water quality and diatioms in March, June, September and December from year 2017 to 2022. Seven diatom indices, including relative abundance of diatoms (RAD), percentage motile diatoms (PMD), generic diatom index (GDI), diatom quotient (DU), pollution tolerance index for diatoms (PTI), trophic diatom index (TDI), and Pampean diatom index (IDP), were selected to screen the adaptability of water quality assessment comparing with the Nemero index (NI), which is simple to calculate and has always been the main method for water quality assessment in Dongting Lake. The results from 2017 to 2019 showed that the diatom density in Dongting Lake ranged from 0.7 × 10 4 to 85.5 × 10 4 ind./L, with a certain decreasing trend. The spatial and temporal changes of some water quality factors were obvious, just like the temperature of water (WT), ammonia nitrogen (NH 4 + –N), dissolved oxygen (DO) and the comprehensive trophic level index (∑ TLI ) ranged from 45.99 to 50.72, with an average value of 47.85, indicating that the overall condition of Dongting Lake was medium nutrition. Correlation analysis showed that PTI, RAD and PMD could represent the information of DU, GDI, TDI and IDP, and were significantly positively correlated with DO ( p