Sponsor
Portland State University. Department of Environmental Science and Management
First Advisor
Yangdong Pan
Date of Publication
Fall 12-17-2018
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (M.S.) in Environmental Science and Management
Department
Environmental Science and Management
Language
English
Subjects
Phytoplankton populations – Oregon -- Lake Oswego (Lake), Phytoplankton -- Climatic factors, Phytoplankton -- Seasonal variations, Cyanobacterial blooms, Urban lakes -- Oregon -- Lake Oswego (Lake) -- Management, Water quality
DOI
10.15760/etd.6612
Physical Description
1 online resource (viii, 102 pages)
Abstract
Eutrophication is one of the primary factors causing harmful cyanobacteria blooms in freshwater lakes; climate change such as warmer temperature can potentially further increase both frequency and intensity of blooms. This study investigated the long-term changes in water quality and summer phytoplankton assemblages in Oswego Lake, OR, in relation to lake management practices (e.g., hypolimnetic aeration and alum treatments), as well as climatic and regional meteorological conditions. Both water quality and phytoplankton assemblages were sampled biweekly during summer seasons between 2001 and 2013. The concentrations of total phosphorus (TP), soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) and total nitrogen (TN) decreased 66%, 93% and 31%, respectively, in response to the hypolimnetic aeration and alum treatments since 2005. The results of summer phytoplankton assemblages showed a 62% reduction of cyanobacteria biovolume and a switch from cyanobacteria dominance (2001-2005) to diatom and chlorophyte dominance (2006-2013). Cluster analysis identified four statistically different groups of summer phytoplankton assemblages (denoted Groups 1-4). Nonmetric multidimensional scaling analysis indicated that the four groups were associated with different water quality conditions. Group 1 occurred prior to hypolimnetic aeration and was primarily comprised of cyanobacteria, associated with water conditions of high nutrients and high primary production. Group 2, dominated by cyanobacteria and chlorophytes, occurred between hypolimnetic aeration and alum surface application. Group 2 was associated with turbid water conditions. Group 3 was dominated by diatoms, occurring after alum surface application. Group 4 included R-strategist phytoplankton that quickly respond to environmental changes, occurring in the years following alum injection, drawdown and inflow alum treatment. Both Group 3 and 4 were associated with reduced nutrients in the lake. The results demonstrated a strong temporal relationship between the long-term changes in water quality and summer phytoplankton assemblages and the lake management practices. The Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) index, an El-Niño-like pattern of Pacific climate variability, showed a statistically significant correlation with the summer phytoplankton dynamics, while the multivariate ENSO index (MEI) and regional meteorological variables (air temperature, rainfall, wind speed, wind direction and solar radiation) were not significantly related to the changes of phytoplankton communities during the study period. In conclusion, the study results suggest that the lake management practices had strong effects on both production and community compositions of phytoplankton, and suggest the need for a future study on large-scale climate impacts on lake ecosystems and best management practice.
Rights
In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/27733
Recommended Citation
Grund, Yuan Xiao, "Long-term Variation of Summer Phytoplankton Communities in an Urban Lake in Relation to Lake Management and Climate Conditions" (2018). Dissertations and Theses. Paper 4728.
https://doi.org/10.15760/etd.6612