Biogeographic distribution patterns of algal community in different urban lakes in China: Insights into the dynamics and co-existence

Urban lake ecosystems are significant for social development, but currently we know little about the geographical distribution of algal community in urban lakes at a large-scale. In this study, we investigated the algal community structure in different areas of urban lakes in China and evaluated the influence of water quality parameters and geographical location on the algal community. The results showed that obvious differences in water quality and algal communities were observed among urban lakes in different geographical areas. Chlorophyta was the dominant phylum, followed by cyanobacteria in all areas. The network analysis indicated that algal community composition in urban lakes of the western and southern area showed more variations than the eastern and northern areas, respectively. Redundancy analysis and structural equation model revealed that nutrients and pH were dominant environmental factors that affected the algal community, and they showed higher influence than that of iron, manganese and COD (Mn) concentration. Importantly, algal community and density exhibited longitude and latitude relationship. In general, these results provided an ecological insight into large-scale geographical distributions of algal community in urban lakes, thereby having potential applications for management of the lakes. (C) 2020 The Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Automated summary

This study investigated the algal community structure in urban lakes in China and found significant differences in water quality and algal communities among different geographical areas, with nutrients and pH being dominant environmental factors affecting the algal community. These results provide insights into the large-scale geographical distributions of algal community in urban lakes and have potential applications for lake management.