Phytoplankton in headwater streams: spatiotemporal patterns and underlying mechanisms

Chenjun Zeng; Ran Xing; Bensheng Huang; Xiangju Cheng; Wenqing Shi; Shufeng Liu

doi:10.3389/fpls.2023.1276289

Phytoplankton in headwater streams: spatiotemporal patterns and underlying mechanisms

Front Plant Sci. 2023 Oct 24:14:1276289. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1276289. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Chenjun Zeng^#^{1

2}, Ran Xing^#³, Bensheng Huang², Xiangju Cheng¹, Wenqing Shi³, Shufeng Liu²

Affiliations

¹ School of Civil Engineering and Transportation, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China.
² Guangdong Research Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower, Guangzhou, China.
³ School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Phytoplankton are key members of river ecosystems wherein they influence and regulate the health of the local environment. Headwater streams are subject to minimal human activity and serve as the sources of rivers, generally exhibiting minimal pollution and strong hydrodynamic forces. To date, the characteristics of phytoplankton communities in headwater streams have remained poorly understood. This study aims to address this knowledge gap by comparing phytoplankton communities in headwater streams with those in plain rivers. The results demonstrated that within similar watershed sizes, lower levels of spatiotemporal variability were observed with respect to phytoplankton community as compared to plain rivers. Lower nutrient levels and strong hydrodynamics contribute to phytoplankton growth limitation in these streams, thereby reducing the levels of spatiotemporal variation. However, these conditions additionally contribute to greater phytoplankton diversity and consequent succession towards Cyanophyta. Overall, these results provide new insights into the dynamics of headwater stream ecosystems and support efforts for their ecological conservation.

Keywords: aquatic ecosystem; headwater stream; hydrodynamic; nutrient; phytoplankton.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by the CRSRI Open Research Program (Program SN: CKWV20231193/KY), Science and Technology Innovation Program from Water Resources of Guangdong Province (2021-07) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51979171, 42277060 and 42161055).