Surface Sediment Diatom Assemblages Response to Water Environment in Dongping Lake, North China

Abstract

The relationship between the diatom taxa preserved in surface lake sediments and environmental variables in Dongping Lake was explored using multivariate statistical methods. The statistical analysis showed that the lake was eutrophicated in all seasons. Transparency, chlorophyll a (Chla) and total phosphorus (TP) were the dominant environmental factors in spring and summer, and NH4+-N and chemical oxygen demand (COD) were the dominant environmental factors in autumn and winter. Sixteen genera and 43 species of diatom were found in the surface sediments, and the dominant diatom genera were Aulacoseira, Ulnaria, Cyclotella, Navicula and Fragilaria. A redundancy analysis (RDA) and Monte Carlo permutation 20 test revealed that COD, pH, TP, conductivity and transparency were significant factors influencing diatom assemblage change, meaning that the distribution of the diatom assemblages were mostly influenced by nutrient composition, light intensity and ion concentrations.