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Phytoplankton Dynamics of the River Nene, England

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Phytoplankton Dynamics of the River Nene, England Durham E-Theses Phytoplankton dynamics of the river nene, England Balbi, David Michael How to cite: Balbi, David Michael (2000) Phytoplankton dynamics of the river nene, England, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/4281/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk PHYTOPLANKTON DYNAMICS OF THE RIVER NENE, ENGLAND by DAVID MICHAEL BALBI B.Sc. University of Leicester A tliesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the University of Durham, England Department of Biological Sciences The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should he published in any form, including Electronic and the Internet, without the author's prior written consent. All information derived from this thesis must be acknowledged appropriately. December 2000 1 7 SEP 2 This thesis results entirely from my own work and has not been offered in candidature for any other degree or diploma. David Michael Balbi December 2000 The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotations from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. n ABSTRACT The distribution of suspended algae was investigated in a 69-km length of a small lowland river in the UK, the Nene (annual median discharge at km 91.7 = 6 m^ s"Variations in chlorophyll a data collected between 1975 and 1998 by water management organisations at km 91.7 were evaluated against a range of physical and chemical variables. Interpretation was aided by additional sampling between 1993 and 1997. The latter half of the 24-year period had significantly higher temperatures and sunshine-hours and significantly lower ammonium concentrations. Discharge, temperature and sunshine-hours were significant predictors of chlorophyll concentration, particularly between January and June, and spring chlorophyll maxima ranged from 106 to 276 |ig L"'. Centric diatoms were the most abundant taxa in the main-river and, in the absence of other limiting factors, appeared to be restricted by the availability of silica. There was also evidence that the centric diatoms suffered from severe parasitism. Inter-year phytoplankton abundance was most variable in the summer, and years with abundant submerged macrophytes had particularly low phytoplankton numbers. Spring phytoplankton peaks occurred earlier and had smaller amplitude at downstream sites than those further upstream. Average spring chlorophyll concentrations (April - June) increased significantly between km 22.4 and km 43.9, thereafter remaining high to km 91.7. Spatial trends were attributed to changes in channel morphology, retention time, dead zones, longitudinal variations in current velocity, temperature and silica limitation. An appraisal of the Utermohl method of counting phytoplankton was made and a new technique proposed, called 'spaced fields'. The spaced fields method accurately identified small changes in phytoplankton abundance and was used to identify short- term temporal and small-scale spatial trends in the Nene. m ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS X Arithmetic mean 0 Diameter Chi square statistic [chl] Chlorophyll concentration (fig L"') ANOVA Analysis of variance BFI Base flow index BOD Biochemical oxygen demand CCA Canonical correspondence analysis CANOCO Canonical community ordination CCAP Culture Collection of Algae and Protozoa. FBA, Ambleside, Cumbria CuSum Cumulative sum d Day Die Dissolved inorganic carbon df Degrees of freedom DO Dissolved oxygen D/S Downstream EC European Community EA Environment Agency FBA Freshwater Biological Association FRP Filterable reactive phosphorus fe Frequency expected fo Frequency observed fo Form (taxonomic classification) GALD Greatest axial linear dimension of algal cell or colony (excluding flagella, spines or fibres) h Hour / Irradiance ind Individual ha Hectare HPLC High performance liquid chromatography / Length LCL Lower confidence limit (95% level unless otherwise stated) LMNDAT Limnological database system LOI Loss on ignition LOIS Land ocean interaction study (see Leeks et al., 1997) MS Mean square n Total number of sampling units in sample N:P N:P ratio NGR National grid reference NLS EA's National Laboratory Service NRA National Rivers Authority NS Not significant p Probability PEEP Phytoplankton ecology evaluation program PET Polyethylene terephthalate PR Pseudo-random fields P:Si P:Si ratio IV Q Discharge (m^ s"') R&D Research and development r' Square of correlation between observed and fitted y values. Fraction of the variation in y that is explained by the fitted equation RF Random fields SEM Scanning electron microscope SF Spaced fields SMCOUNT Computer simulation of counting algae in sedimentation chambers Sp Species (plural, spp.) SS Sum of squares ST Spaced transects SD Standard deviation STW Sewage treatment works Syn Synonym s' Variance t Time T Temperature (°C) TN Total nitrogen TON Total oxidised nitrogen (NO2-N + NO3-N) TP Total phosphorus TRP Total reactive phosphorus UCL Upper confidence limit (95% level unless otherwise stated) u/s Upstream UWWT Urban waste water treatment var Variety (taxonomic classification) w Watts Euphotic depth (m) Secchi disc depth (m) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am indebted to Prof. B.A. Whitton for his encouragement, enthusiasm and commitment to my research and to the completion of this thesis. The work would not have been possible without the practical assistance and sponsorship of the Environment Agency (EA). My EA supervisors were Mr W.T. Clough and Dr C.A. Extence, the former assisted with the initiation of my research and the latter provided continued support. A very special thanks goes to Dr S.J. Brierley for 'igniting' my interest in phytoplankton and for 'keeping the fire burning', until it was too late! Numerous other EA staff aided with the collection of samples, provision of data, information and administration. Ms J. Wray, Dr L. Bludgen and Mr M. Rose helped with the collection and processing of samples. Mr N. Hill, Mr D. Glen and Dr M. Whiteman provided an invaluable insight to hydrology and Mr M. Healy did the same for water chemistry. My biology colleagues at the EA and the University of Durham (1993 to 2000) assisted in many ways. Special thanks go to Dr J.H. Belcher and Dr E.M.F. Swale for their assistance with the identification of river phytoplankton, and for encouragement and inspiring discussions. Assistance with taxonomy was also gratefully received from Dr E.J. Cox (Natural History Museum), Dr E.Y. Haworth (FBA, Windermere) and Dr N.T.H Holmes (Alconbury Environmental Consultants). Thanks also go to Dr D.M. Harper and others at the University of Leicester for nurturing my early interest in ecology and encouraging me to take it further. I am also indebted to Ms L.S. Wilson (University of Leicester and later University of Durham) for considerable assistance with the literature. Finally, and most importantly, a very big 'thank you' to my wife Lindy and son Alex for assistance with sampling, encouragement and particularly for making it all worthwhile. VI CONTENTS TITLE I ABSTRACT m ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS VI CONTENTS Vm LIST OF TABLES X LIST OF FIGURES XH 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Prelude 1 1.2 Introduction 1 1.3 Quantitative methods 2 1.4 Key factors controlling river phytoplankton 4 1.41 Physical environment 4 1.42 Chemical environment 8 1.43 Biological interactions 11 1.5 Abundance patterns of river phytoplankton 13 1.6 Aims 16 2 GEOGRAPHICAL BACKGROUND 17 2.1 Introduction 17 2.2 Geology and hydrology 19 2.3 Navigation and industry 20 2.4 Meteorology 21 2.5 Standing waters 22 2.6 River maintenance 22 2.7 Chemical monitoring and water quality 22 2.8 Biological monitoring and water quality 23 2.9 Sample sites 23 3 METHODS AND MATERIALS 25 3.1 Field analysis 25 3.2 Physical data 25 3.21 Water temperature 25 3.22 Discharge 25 3.23 Channel and catchment characteristics 26 3.24 Velocity 27 3.3 Sampling programme 27 3.31 Routine collection, treatment and storage of water samples 27 3.32 1994 flood event 29 3.33 Main river/bay comparison 29 3.34 Sediment trap 29 3.35 High frequency sampling 31 3.36 Cross sectional profiles and spot sampling 33 3.37 Picoplankton 33 3.38 Rotifers. 33 3.39 Planktonic diatoms 34 vn 3.310 Influence of Billing marina and Thrapston sailing lake 34 3.311 Spot surveys 34 3.312 Phaeopigments 35 3.313 Sample and subsample error 35 3.314 Additional data 36 3.4 Laboratory analysis 38 3.41 Chemical 38 3.42 Biological 38 3.5 Statistical methods and treatment of data 41 3.51 General procedures and transformations 41 3.52 Physical and chemical 42 3.53 Chlorophyll 42 3.54 Phytoplankton 43 3.55 Zooplankton 45 3.56 Sediment 45 3.57 Macrophyte 45 TAXONOMY 46 4.1 Introduction 46 4.2 Suspended algae at km 91.7 46 4.3 Diatom identification 52 4.4 Morphological impact of low Silicate concentration
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