Trend of Phytoplankton Composition and Physicochemical Water Quality Parameters of Lake Hayq, Ethiopia

Assefa Tessema, Abebe Getahun, Seyoum Mengistou, Tadesse Fetahi, Eashete Dejen

Abstract


The study was conducted in Lake Hayq between January and December, 2018. The objectives of the study were to assess the trend of phytoplankton composition, biomass, and physicochemical water quality parameters for last ten years. Integrated and net water sampling methods were used to collect phytoplankton and physicochemical water quality parametres. The collected data were analyzed using multivariate Analysis (Two Way ANOVA and Redundancy Analysis) using SPSS Version 16 and CANOCO 4.5 Software. Lake Hayq had higher mean water temperature (23 oC), pH (85-9.0), average Secchi disk depth (3.5 m), turbidity (<5 NTU), mean total alkalinity (8.8 meqL-1), mean Total phosphorus (39 μgL-1 ), Soluble Reactive Phosphorus (8.3 μgL-1), Nitrate (177.1-181.8 μgL-1), Silicon dioxide (142.3 μgL-1), mean Chlorophyll-a (4.03 μgL-1) and mean conductivity (920 μScm-1). There was no significant species composition change in the last ten years, a total of 44 phytoplankton species grouped under six divisions, Chlorophyta, Bacillariophyta, Cyanophyta, Euglenophyta, Dinophyta, and Cryptophyta were recorded. Chlorophyta and Bacillariophyta were dominant groups in terms of species composition. Peridinium, member of Dinophyta was the most abundant species in most of the sampling seasons and sites for the first time which seem to be favored with atelomixis, partial mixing of Lake Hayq. Based on Carlson’s index of trophic state, Lake Hayq was mesotrophic with Carlson’s index of trophic state value of 47.72 which was the actual average of TP, SD and Chlorophyll-a. Lake Hayq had more inorganic nutrient value due to nutrient enrichment through runoff, siltation and point source of pollution from nearby Lodges which may accelerate eutrophication process in near future. Therefore, integrated watershed management should be implemented to minimize the nutrient load and restore the lake.


Keywords


Nutrients; Chlorophyll-a; Mesotrophic; Peridinium; Phytoplankton Net; Trophic State

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