Relationships between testate amoeba communities and water quality in Lake Donghu, a large alkaline lake in Wuhan, China

doi:10.1007/s11707-013-0352-4

Front Earth Sci

2013, Vol. 7

Issue (2) : 182-190 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11707-013-0352-4

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Relationships between testate amoeba communities and water quality in Lake Donghu, a large alkaline lake in Wuhan, China

Yangmin QIN^1,2(

), Bertrand FOURNIER³, Enrique LARA³, Yansheng GU¹, Hongmei WANG¹, Yongde CUI⁴, Xiaoke ZHANG⁴, Edward A. D. MITCHELL³

1. State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China; 2. State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi’an 710075, China; 3. Laboratory of Soil Biology, University of Neuchatel, Rue Emile Argand 11, CH-2000 Neuchatel, Switzerland; 4. Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China

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Abstract

The middle Yangtze Reach is one of the most developed regions of China. As a result, most lakes in this area have suffered from eutrophication and serious environmental pollution during recent decades. The aquatic biodiversity in the lakes of the area is thus currently under significant threat from continuous human activities. Testate amoebae (TA) are benthic (rarely planktonic) microorganisms characterized by an agglutinated or autogenous shell. Owing to their high abundance, preservation potential in lacustrine sediments, and distinct response to environmental stress, they are increasingly used as indicators for monitoring water quality and reconstructing palaeoenvironmental changes. However this approach has not yet been developed in China. This study presents an initial assessment of benthic TA assemblages in eight lakes of Lake Donghu in the region of Wuhan, China. Testate amoeba community structure was most strongly correlated to water pH. In more alkaline conditions, communities were dominated by Centropyxis aculeata, Difflugia oblonga, Pontigulasia compressa, Pon. elisa and Lesquereusia modesta. These results are consistent with previous studies and show that TA could be useful for reconstructing past water pH fluctuations in China. To achieve this, the next step will be to expand the database and build transfer function models.

Keywords testate amoebae (TA) water quality water pH Lake Donghu China

Corresponding Author(s): QIN Yangmin,Email:qymcug@yahoo.com.cn

Issue Date: 05 June 2013

Cite this article:

Yangmin QIN,Bertrand FOURNIER,Enrique LARA, et al. Relationships between testate amoeba communities and water quality in Lake Donghu, a large alkaline lake in Wuhan, China[J]. Front Earth Sci, 2013, 7(2): 182-190.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fesci/EN/10.1007/s11707-013-0352-4
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fesci/EN/Y2013/V7/I2/182

Fig.1 Location of the eight studied lakes of Lake Donghu. (a) Location of Wuhan City near the middle Yangtze Reach of Central China, (b) Eight studied lakes in the Lake Donghu of Wuhan, see Table 1 for name of lakes

Tab.1 Environmental variables measured in Lake Donghu (Wuhan, China) (From )

Tab.2 Relative abundance (percentage of total count) of testate amoeba morpho-taxa in eight lakes of Lake Donghu (Wuhan, China)

Fig.2 SEM photos of testate amoebae from sediments of Lake Donghu, Wuhan, China. a-b) cf. , c-d) , e-f) , g) , h) -type, here , i) , j) , k) , l) , m) , n) , o-p)

Tab.3 Correlations between water chemical variables measured in Lake Donghu (Wuhan, China)

Fig.3 Scatter plot of pH versus testate amoeba species richness in eight lakes of Lake Donghu (Wuhan, China). The solid line represents a linear regression function (adjusted- = 0.69)

Tab.4 Redundancy analyses (RDA) results showing the percentage variance in the testate amoeba data set from in eight lakes of Lake Donghu (Wuhan, China) explained by the measured environmental variables (separate analysis for each variable)

Fig.4 RDA ordination showing the relationship between testate amoeba community structure in eight lakes of Lake Donghu (Wuhan, China) and the fitted environmental variables (circles are species, squares are eight small lakes of Lake Donghu)

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