Response of phytoplankton composition to environmental stressors under humidification in three alpine lakes on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China
Owning to their extreme environmental conditions, lakes on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau have typically displayed a simplistic food web structure, rendering them more vulnerable to climate change compared to lakes in plains. Phytoplankton, undergoing a changing aquatic environment, play a crucial role i...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2024-04-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Microbiology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2024.1370334/full |
| _version_ | 1797206904713248768 |
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| author | Peiwen Gu Junmei Jia Delin Qi Qiang Gao Cunfang Zhang Xi Yang Miaomiao Nie Dan Liu Yule Luo |
| author_facet | Peiwen Gu Junmei Jia Delin Qi Qiang Gao Cunfang Zhang Xi Yang Miaomiao Nie Dan Liu Yule Luo |
| author_sort | Peiwen Gu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Owning to their extreme environmental conditions, lakes on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau have typically displayed a simplistic food web structure, rendering them more vulnerable to climate change compared to lakes in plains. Phytoplankton, undergoing a changing aquatic environment, play a crucial role in the material cycle and energy flow of the food chain, particularly important for the unique fish species of the Tibetan Plateau. To identify the changing environment indexes and determine the response of phytoplankton composition to the environment change in alpine lakes, three lakes—Lake Qinghai, Lake Keluke and Lake Tuosu—were selected as study areas. Seasonal sampling surveys were conducted in spring and summer annually from 2018 to 2020. Our findings revealed there were significant changes in physicochemical parameters and phytoplankton in the three lakes. Bacillariophyta was the predominant phytoplankton in Lake Qinghai from 2018 to 2020, with the genera Synedra sp., Navicula sp., Cymbella sp. and Achnanthidium sp. predominated alternately. Lake Keluke alternated between being dominated by Bacillariophyta and cyanobacteria during the same period. Dolichospermum sp., a cyanobacteria, was prevalent in the summer of 2018 and 2019 and in the spring of 2020. In Lake Tuosu, Bacillariophyta was the predominant phytoplankton from 2018 to 2020, except in the summer of 2019, which was dominated by cyanobacteria. Synedra sp., Oscillatoria sp., Pseudoanabaena sp., Chromulina sp. and Achnanthidium sp. appeared successively as the dominant genera. Analysis revealed that all three lakes exhibited higher phytoplankton abundance in 2018 that in 2019 and 2020. Concurrently, they experienced higher average temperatures in 2018 than in the subsequent years. The cyanobacteria, Bacillariophyta, Chlorophyta and overall phytoplankton increased with temperature and decreased with salinity and NH4-N. Besides, the ratios of cyanobacteria, and the ratios of Bacillariophyta accounted in total phytoplankton increased with temperature. These findings suggest that cyanobacteria and phytoplankton abundance, especially Bacillariophyta, may have an increase tendency in the three alpine lakes under warm and wet climate. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T09:14:26Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-04ffce9c1d6e44ed8965be3a427d5265 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-302X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T09:14:26Z |
| publishDate | 2024-04-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Microbiology |
| spelling | doaj.art-04ffce9c1d6e44ed8965be3a427d52652024-04-15T17:05:40ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Microbiology1664-302X2024-04-011510.3389/fmicb.2024.13703341370334Response of phytoplankton composition to environmental stressors under humidification in three alpine lakes on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, ChinaPeiwen Gu0Junmei Jia1Delin Qi2Qiang Gao3Cunfang Zhang4Xi Yang5Miaomiao Nie6Dan Liu7Yule Luo8State Key Laboratory of Plateau Ecology and Agriculture, Qinghai University, Xining, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Plateau Ecology and Agriculture, Qinghai University, Xining, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Plateau Ecology and Agriculture, Qinghai University, Xining, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Plateau Ecology and Agriculture, Qinghai University, Xining, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Plateau Ecology and Agriculture, Qinghai University, Xining, ChinaCollege of Eco-Environmental Engineering, Qinghai University, Xining, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Plateau Ecology and Agriculture, Qinghai University, Xining, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Plateau Ecology and Agriculture, Qinghai University, Xining, ChinaCollege of Eco-Environmental Engineering, Qinghai University, Xining, ChinaOwning to their extreme environmental conditions, lakes on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau have typically displayed a simplistic food web structure, rendering them more vulnerable to climate change compared to lakes in plains. Phytoplankton, undergoing a changing aquatic environment, play a crucial role in the material cycle and energy flow of the food chain, particularly important for the unique fish species of the Tibetan Plateau. To identify the changing environment indexes and determine the response of phytoplankton composition to the environment change in alpine lakes, three lakes—Lake Qinghai, Lake Keluke and Lake Tuosu—were selected as study areas. Seasonal sampling surveys were conducted in spring and summer annually from 2018 to 2020. Our findings revealed there were significant changes in physicochemical parameters and phytoplankton in the three lakes. Bacillariophyta was the predominant phytoplankton in Lake Qinghai from 2018 to 2020, with the genera Synedra sp., Navicula sp., Cymbella sp. and Achnanthidium sp. predominated alternately. Lake Keluke alternated between being dominated by Bacillariophyta and cyanobacteria during the same period. Dolichospermum sp., a cyanobacteria, was prevalent in the summer of 2018 and 2019 and in the spring of 2020. In Lake Tuosu, Bacillariophyta was the predominant phytoplankton from 2018 to 2020, except in the summer of 2019, which was dominated by cyanobacteria. Synedra sp., Oscillatoria sp., Pseudoanabaena sp., Chromulina sp. and Achnanthidium sp. appeared successively as the dominant genera. Analysis revealed that all three lakes exhibited higher phytoplankton abundance in 2018 that in 2019 and 2020. Concurrently, they experienced higher average temperatures in 2018 than in the subsequent years. The cyanobacteria, Bacillariophyta, Chlorophyta and overall phytoplankton increased with temperature and decreased with salinity and NH4-N. Besides, the ratios of cyanobacteria, and the ratios of Bacillariophyta accounted in total phytoplankton increased with temperature. These findings suggest that cyanobacteria and phytoplankton abundance, especially Bacillariophyta, may have an increase tendency in the three alpine lakes under warm and wet climate.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2024.1370334/fullphytoplanktonsuccessionbiodiversityenvironmental responseeutrophicationalpine lakes |
| spellingShingle | Peiwen Gu Junmei Jia Delin Qi Qiang Gao Cunfang Zhang Xi Yang Miaomiao Nie Dan Liu Yule Luo Response of phytoplankton composition to environmental stressors under humidification in three alpine lakes on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China Frontiers in Microbiology phytoplankton succession biodiversity environmental response eutrophication alpine lakes |
| title | Response of phytoplankton composition to environmental stressors under humidification in three alpine lakes on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China |
| title_full | Response of phytoplankton composition to environmental stressors under humidification in three alpine lakes on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China |
| title_fullStr | Response of phytoplankton composition to environmental stressors under humidification in three alpine lakes on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China |
| title_full_unstemmed | Response of phytoplankton composition to environmental stressors under humidification in three alpine lakes on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China |
| title_short | Response of phytoplankton composition to environmental stressors under humidification in three alpine lakes on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China |
| title_sort | response of phytoplankton composition to environmental stressors under humidification in three alpine lakes on the qinghai tibet plateau china |
| topic | phytoplankton succession biodiversity environmental response eutrophication alpine lakes |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2024.1370334/full |
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