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Climate change-induced glacial melting is a global phenomenon. The effects of climate change-induced melting on the microbial ecology in different glacial-fed aquatic systems have been well illuminated, but the resolution of seasonal dynamics was still limited. Here, we studied bacterial community composition and diversity in a glacial-fed Tibetan lake, Lake Ranwu, to elucidate how glacial-fed aquatic ecosystems respond to the seasonal glacial melting. Obvious seasonal variations of bacterial dominant groups were found in Lake Ranwu and inlet rivers. In April, the majority of OTUs belonged to the Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria. The Proteobacteria increased to the most abundant phylum in July and November, while the Bacteroidetes and Actinobacteria decreased about 50% over seasons. Most key discriminant taxa of each season's community strongly associated with specific environmental variables, suggesting their adaptation to seasonal environments. Bacterial alpha diversity varied among seasons and exhibited strongly negative correlations with conductivity. Conductivity was the major driving force in determining the seasonal variation of bacterial community composition. Fluctuated conductivity was one of the consequences of seasonal melting of glaciers. This study offered evidence for the unique seasonal dynamics pattern of bacterial communities responding to glacial melting. Moreover, this study may provide a reference for assessing the long-term effects of glacial retreat on glacial-fed aquatic ecosystems.

Enrichment of waterways with nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) has accelerated eutrophication and promoted cyanobacterial blooms worldwide. An understanding of whether cyanobacteria maintain their dominance under accelerated eutrophication will help predict trends and provide rational control measures. A mesocosm experiment was conducted under natural light and temperature conditions in Lake Taihu, China. It revealed that only N added to lake water promoted growth of colonial and filamentous cyanobacteria (Microcystis, Pseudoanabaena and Planktothrix) and single-cell green algae (Cosmarium, Chlorella, and Scenedesmus). Adding P alone promoted neither cyanobacteria nor green algae significantly. N plus P additions promoted cyanobacteria and green algae growth greatly. The higher growth rates of green algae vs. cyanobacteria in N plus P additions resulted in the biomass of green algae exceeding that of cyanobacteria. This indicates that further enrichment with N plus P in eutrophic water will enhance green algae over cyanobacterial dominance. However, it does not mean that eutrophication problems will cease. On the contrary, the risk will increase due to increasing total phytoplankton biomass.

Data collected from 12 marine monitoring stations in Daya Bay from 1982 to 2004 reveal a substantial change in the ecological environment of this region. The average N/P ratio increased from 1.377 in 1985 to 49.09 in 2004. Algal species changed from 159 species of 46 genera in 1982 to 126 species of 44 genera in 2004. Major zooplankton species went from 46 species in 1983 to 36 species in 2004. The annual mean biomass of benthic animals was recorded at 123.10 g m(-2) in 1982 and 126.68 g m(-2) in 2004. Mean biomass and species of benthic animals near nuclear power plants ranged from 317.9 g m(-2) in 1991 to 45.24 g m(-2) in 2004 and from 250 species in 1991 to 177 species in 2004. A total of 12-19 species of hermatypic corals and 13 species of mangrove plants were observed in Daya Bay from 1984 to 2002.

Abstract In this work, the marine hydrate deposits were classified into CHR (clay reservoir), SIHR (siltstone reservoir) and SHR (sandstone reservoir) according to the grain sizes of the sediments. Based on field measurements and proper estimations in Shenhu area, the gas production potentials of these different lithological hydrate reservoirs were numerically studied through Tough + Hydrate. The simulation results reveal that SHR can provide the most desirable gas production potential with the following superior features: (a) a burst gas release at initial stage of the production; (b) the highest average gas release rate 1.7 × 103 ST (standard temperature) m3/d; (c) the highest total release gas volume 1.7 × 107 ST m3, (d) the highest gas-to-water volume ratio with an average value of 9.04. However, the evolution of the spatial distributions of the characteristic parameters indicates that the gas production in SHR has met some challengeable problems in both technology and environment aspects. On the other hand, compared with CHR, SIHR shows a higher gas release rate and cumulative volume but a worse gas-to-water volume ratio during the entire production period. In addition, the evolution of the salinity spatial distribution indicates an unsatisfactory impact on the environment in the later stage of production for SIHR.

The aim of this study was to investigate the use of water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica Forsk.) with N(+) ion-beam implantation for removal of nutrient species from eutrophic water. The mutated water spinach was grown on floating beds, and growth chambers were used to examine the growth of three cultivars of water spinach with ion implantation for 14 days in simulated eutrophic water at both high and low nitrogen levels. The specific weight growth rates of three cultivars of water spinach with ion implantation were significantly higher than the control, and their NO(3)-N and NH(4)-N removal efficiencies were also greater than those of the control. Furthermore, compared with the control, the nitrogen contents in the plant biomass with ion implantation were higher as well.

The global decline of freshwater biodiversity caused by climate change and human activities are supposed to disrupt ecosystem services related to water quality and alter the structure and function of aquatic communities across space and time, yet the effects of the combination of these factors on plankton community ecosystem has received relatively little attention. This study aimed to explore the impacts of disturbances (e.g. human activity, temperature, precipitation, and water level) on phytoplankton community structure (i.e. community evenness and community composition) and function (i.e. resource use efficiency) in four subtropical reservoirs over 7 years from 2010 to 2016. Our results showed that community turnover (measured as community dissimilarity) was positively related to disturbance frequency, but no significant correlation was found between phytoplankton biodiversity (i.e. evenness) and disturbance frequency. Phytoplankton resource use efficiency (RUE = phytoplankton biomass/ total phosphorus) was increased with a higher frequency of disturbance with an exception of cyanobacteria. The RUE of Cyanobacteria and diatoms showed significantly negative correlations with their community evenness, while the RUE of Chlorophyta exhibited a positive correlation with their community turnover. We suggest that multiple environmental disturbances may play crucial roles in shaping the structure and functioning of plankton communities in subtropical reservoirs, and mechanism of this process can provide key information for freshwater uses, management and conservation.

Wind-driven wave disturbance is one of the environmental factors that shapes the formation of Microcystis blooms. Here we present data on the effect of different disturbance modes (continuous vs intermittent disturbances) on colony size, biomass and dominance of Microcystis in Lake Taihu under field conditions. Small submersible pumps were used to simulate different disturbance modes at turbulent dissipation rate (ε) of 2.98 × 10-6 m2 s-3. Our results show that the mean colony sizes of Microcystis in intermittent and continuous disturbance group were 1.94 and 1.23 times that of the control group, respectively. The mean densities of Microcystis in intermittent and continuous disturbance group were 4.23 and 2.91 times that of the control group, respectively. The mean proportion of Microcystis to total algae abundance in control group and continuous disturbance group changed from 78.3% at beginning of the experiment to 4.5% and 9.1% at the end of the experiment. However, the proportion of Microcystis to total algae cells in intermittent disturbance group was 65.7-94.3% during the whole experiment. The results demonstrated intermittent disturbances favored colony morphology, biomass and dominance of Microcystis. Our results suggested that intermittent disturbance benefited the formation of Microcystis bloom and was important in the development of predictive models for toxic cyanobacterial blooms under changing climates in shallow lakes.

Water transparency is a useful indicator of water quality or productivity and is widely used to detect long-term changes in the water quality and eutrophication of lake ecosystems. Based on short-term spatial observations in the spring, summer, and winter and on long-term site-specific observation from 1988 to 2013, the spatial, seasonal, long-term variations, and the factors affecting transparency are presented for Xin’anjiang Reservoir (China). Spatially, transparency was high in the open water but low in the bays and the inflowing river mouths, reflecting the effect of river runoff. The seasonal effects were distinct, with lower values in the summer than in the winter, most likely due to river runoff and phytoplankton biomass increases. The transparency decreased significantly with a linear slope of 0.079 m/year, indicating a 2.05 m decrease and a marked decrease in water quality. A marked increase occurred in chlorophyll a (Chla) concentration, and a significant correlation was found between the transparency and Chla concentration, indicating that phytoplankton biomass can partially explain the long-term trend of transparency in Xin’anjiang Reservoir. The river input and phytoplankton biomass increase were associated with soil erosion and nutrient loss in the catchment. Our study will support future management of water quality in Xin’anjiang Reservoir.