We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
How length of light exposure shapes the development of riverine algal biomass in temperate rivers?
- Authors
Várbíró, G.; Borics, G.; Abonyi, A.; B-Béres, V.; Nagy-László, Z.; Padisák, J.; Stanković, I.; Gligora Udovič, M.
- Abstract
The impact of cumulative daily solar radiation (CDSR) on the biomass of river phytoplankton (Chl-<italic>a</italic>) in the growing season was studied using a large dataset of rivers in the Carpathian Basin. The amount of solar radiation was cumulated over the range of 1–60 days. The CDSR–Chl-<italic>a</italic> relationship could be described by linear regression and appeared to be significant for almost all watercourses with the exception of rivers with short water residence time. To determine the most relevant time period of CDSR impacting phytoplankton biomass, the slopes of regressions were plotted against the accumulating number of days of light exposure (1–60). Two characteristic shapes were obtained: unimodal for rhithral rivers with hard substrate and steady increase for lowland potamal rivers with fine substrate. In both cases, there is an increasing tendency in the slope values with water residence time (WRT). It was demonstrated that CDSR has a pronounced impact on river phytoplankton biomass even in cases when WRT was shorter than the cumulated solar radiation period. These results indicate that development of phytoplankton within the river channel is a complex process in which meroplankton dynamics may have significant impacts. Our results have two implications: First, CDSR cannot be neglected in predictive modelling of riverine phytoplankton biomass. Second, climate models forecast increased drought with subsequently increased CDSR in several regions globally, which may trigger a rise in phytoplankton biomass in light-limited rivers with high nutrient concentrations.
- Subjects
PHYTOPLANKTON; BIOMASS &; the environment; SOLAR radiation -- Environmental aspects; ALGAE &; the environment; PHOTOSYNTHETICALLY active radiation (PAR)
- Publication
Hydrobiologia, 2018, Vol 809, Issue 1, p53
- ISSN
0018-8158
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s10750-017-3447-1