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Water
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Ecosystem-Based Understanding and Management of Eutrophication
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Ecosystem-Based Understanding and Management of Eutrophication

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Water Quality and Contamination".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2022) | Viewed by 19429

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Emeritus William D. Taylor

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Biology, University of Waterloo, Canada
Interests: nutrients; food webs; microbial ecology
Prof. Dr. Xiufeng Zhang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Ecology and Institute of Hydrobiology, Jinan University, China
Interests: nutrients; eutrophication; restoration

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Anthropogenic eutrophication leads to anoxia and excessive algal and plant biomass, including harmful algal blooms, and is one of the most common water quality problems in aquatic ecosystems worldwide. Important consequences include loss of ecosystem services, such as provision of drinking water, fisheries, and recreation, and loss of biodiversity. Nutrients derived from human activity are key in driving it. However, an array of other human causes such as overfishing, land use changes, habitat alteration, and damming and other hydrological manipulations also may be important in many instances. Increasingly, protracted internal loading of P, introduced species, and climate change are the focus of research into the cause of degradation and loss of ecosystem services, especially when reductions in loading fail to cause or sustain the expected recovery of damaged ecosystems.

In this Special Issue, we wish to promote a holistic, ecosystem-based understanding and management of eutrophication and associated effects on water quality. We encourage contributions discussing results from field studies, experiments, models, and theoretical analyses that can provide insight into the management of this threat to humans and the biosphere in which they live.

Prof. Emeritus William D. Taylor
Prof. Dr. Xiufeng Zhang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • eutrophication
  • nutrients
  • human effects
  • water quality
  • degradation
  • aquatic ecosystem
  • restoration

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

22 pages, 7350 KiB  
Article
A Fuzzy Logic Model for Early Warning of Algal Blooms in a Tidal-Influenced River
by Hanjie Yang, Zhaoting Chen, Yingxin Ye, Gang Chen, Fantang Zeng and Changjin Zhao
Water 2021, 13(21), 3118; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13213118 - 05 Nov 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2251
Abstract
Algal blooms are one of the most serious threats to water resources, and their early detection remains a challenge in eutrophication management worldwide. In recent years, with more widely available real-time auto-monitoring data and the advancement of computational capabilities, fuzzy logic has become [...] Read more.
Algal blooms are one of the most serious threats to water resources, and their early detection remains a challenge in eutrophication management worldwide. In recent years, with more widely available real-time auto-monitoring data and the advancement of computational capabilities, fuzzy logic has become a robust tool to establish early warning systems. In this study, a framework for an early warning system was constructed, aiming to accurately predict algae blooms in a river containing several water conservation areas and in which the operation of two tidal sluices has altered the tidal currents. Statistical analysis of sampled data was first conducted and suggested the utilization of dissolved oxygen, velocity, ammonia nitrogen, total phosphorus, and water temperature as inputs into the fuzzy logic model. The fuzzy logic model, which was driven by biochemical data sampled by two auto-monitoring sites and numerically simulated velocity, successfully reproduced algae bloom events over the past several years (i.e., 2011, 2012, 2013, 2017, and 2019). Considering the demands of management, several key parameters, such as onset threshold and prolongation time and subsequent threshold, were additionally applied in the warning system, which achieved a critical success index and positive hit rate values of 0.5 and 0.9, respectively. The differences in the early warning index between the two auto-monitoring sites were further illustrated in terms of tidal influence, sluice operation, and the influence of the contaminated water mass that returned from downstream during flood tides. It is highlighted that for typical tidal rivers in urban areas of South China with sufficient nutrient supply and warm temperature, dissolved oxygen and velocity are key factors for driving early warning systems. The study also suggests that some additional common pollutants should be sampled and utilized for further analysis of water mass extents and data quality control of auto-monitoring sampling. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ecosystem-Based Understanding and Management of Eutrophication)
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9 pages, 988 KiB  
Article
Effects of Water Depth on the Growth of the Submerged Macrophytes Vallisneria natans and Hydrilla verticillata: Implications for Water Level Management
by Qisheng Li, Yanqing Han, Kunquan Chen, Xiaolong Huang, Kuanyi Li and Hu He
Water 2021, 13(18), 2590; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13182590 - 19 Sep 2021
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3046
Abstract
Water level is one of the most important factors affecting the growth of submerged macrophytes in aquatic ecosystems. The rosette plant Vallisneria natans and the erect plant Hydrilla verticillata are two common submerged macrophytes in lakes of the middle and lower reaches of [...] Read more.
Water level is one of the most important factors affecting the growth of submerged macrophytes in aquatic ecosystems. The rosette plant Vallisneria natans and the erect plant Hydrilla verticillata are two common submerged macrophytes in lakes of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, China. How water level fluctuations affect their growth and competition is still unknown. In this study, three water depths (50 cm, 150 cm, and 250 cm) were established to explore the responses in growth and competitive patterns of the two plant species to water depth under mixed planting conditions. The results show that, compared with shallow water conditions (50 cm), the growth of both submerged macrophytes was severely suppressed in deep water depth (250 cm), while only V. natans was inhibited under intermediate water depth (150 cm). Moreover, the ratio of biomass of V. natans to H. verticillata gradually increased with increasing water depth, indicating that deep water enhanced the competitive advantage of V. natans over H.verticillata. Morphological adaptation of the two submerged macrophytes to water depth was different. With increasing water depth, H. verticillata increased its height, at the cost of reduced plant numbers to adapt to poor light conditions. A similar strategy was also observed in V. natans, when water depth increased from 50 cm to 150 cm. However, both the plant height and number were reduced at deep water depth (250 cm). Our study suggests that water level reduction in lake restoration efforts could increase the total biomass of submerged macrophytes, but the domination of key plants, such as V. natans, may decrease. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ecosystem-Based Understanding and Management of Eutrophication)
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11 pages, 1671 KiB  
Article
Effects of Sediments Phosphorus Inactivation on the Life Strategies of Myriophyllum spicatum: Implications for Lake Restoration
by Zhenmei Lin, Chen Zhong, Guolong Yu, Yishu Fu, Baohua Guan, Zhengwen Liu and Jinlei Yu
Water 2021, 13(15), 2112; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13152112 - 31 Jul 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2289
Abstract
Eutrophication often results in the loss of submerged vegetation in shallow lakes and turns the lake to be a turbid state. Recovery of submerged macrophytes is the key in the restoration of shallow eutrophic lakes to create a clear water state. However, internal [...] Read more.
Eutrophication often results in the loss of submerged vegetation in shallow lakes and turns the lake to be a turbid state. Recovery of submerged macrophytes is the key in the restoration of shallow eutrophic lakes to create a clear water state. However, internal loading control was considered as the critical process for the recovery of submerged macrophytes in shallow lakes after the external nutrient reduction. Phoslock® (Lanthanum modified bentonite) is a useful passivation material in controlling the internal loadings (release of phosphorus from the sediments), which was applied to restore the eutrophic lakes. However, the effects of Phoslock® on the growth and life strategies of submerged macrophytes are less focused so far. In the present study, we studied the responses in the growth and morphological characteristics of Myriophyllum spicatum to the addition of Phoslock® to the sediments. Our results showed that the addition of Phoslock® significantly decreased the contents of bioavailable forms of phosphorus in the sediments, such as redox-sensitive phosphorus bound to Fe and Mn compounds (BD–P), phosphorus bound to aluminum (Al–P) and organic phosphorus (Org–P). However, the concentration of the non-bioavailable forms of phosphorus in the sediments, such as calcium bound phosphorus (Ca–P), increased significantly in the Phoslock® treatments compared with the controls. At the end of the experiments, the total biomass, aboveground biomass and relative growth rate (RGR) of M. spicatum decreased significantly in the Phoslock® mesocosms compared with the controls. In contrast, the wet root biomass, root–shoot biomass ratio, root numbers and root length of M. spicatum were significantly higher in the Phoslock® treatments than that in the controls. Our results indicated that the growth of M. spicatum was suppressed by the addition of Phoslock®, and thus the biomass was decreased; however, the increase of root biomass might be beneficial to the inhibition of phosphorus release and resuspension of sediments and to the restoration of the lake ecosystem. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ecosystem-Based Understanding and Management of Eutrophication)
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10 pages, 1311 KiB  
Article
Effects of Lanthanum Modified Bentonite and Polyaluminium Chloride on the Environmental Variables in the Water and Sediment Phosphorus Form in Lake Yanglan, China
by Ling Su, Chen Zhong, Lei Gan, Xiaolin He, Jinlei Yu, Xiumei Zhang and Zhengwen Liu
Water 2021, 13(14), 1947; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13141947 - 15 Jul 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2434
Abstract
The application of lanthanum modified bentonite (Phoslock®) and polyaluminium chloride (PAC) is popular in the restoration of European temperate lakes; however, the effects of the application on the concentrations of phosphorus (P) in both the water and the sediments have been [...] Read more.
The application of lanthanum modified bentonite (Phoslock®) and polyaluminium chloride (PAC) is popular in the restoration of European temperate lakes; however, the effects of the application on the concentrations of phosphorus (P) in both the water and the sediments have been poorly evaluated to date. We studied the effects of the application of Phoslock® + PAC on the concentrations of total phosphorus (TP), particulate phosphorus (PP), soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP), total suspended solids (TSS) and chlorophyll a (Chla) in the water, and different P forms in the sediments, in an isolated part of Lake Yanglan. The results showed that the concentrations of TP, PP, SRP, TSS and Chla decreased significantly after the addition of Phoslock® + PAC. Moreover, the concentrations of labile-P, reductant-soluble-P and organic-P in the sediments were also significantly decreased after the Phoslock® + PAC application. However, the concentrations of both the stable apatite-P and residual-P in the sediments after application of Phoslock® + PAC were much higher than the pre-addition values, while the concentrations of metal-oxide-P did not differ significantly between the pre- and post- application conditions. Our findings imply that the combined application of Phoslock® and PAC can be used in the restoration of subtropical shallow lakes, to reduce the concentrations of P in the water and suppress the release of P from the sediments. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ecosystem-Based Understanding and Management of Eutrophication)
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12 pages, 3676 KiB  
Article
Effects of the Filter-Feeding Benthic Bivalve Corbicula fluminea on Plankton Community and Water Quality in Aquatic Ecosystems: A Mesocosm Study
by Yuqin Rong, Yali Tang, Lijuan Ren, William D Taylor, Vladimir Razlutskij, Luigi Naselli-Flores, Zhengwen Liu and Xiufeng Zhang
Water 2021, 13(13), 1827; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13131827 - 30 Jun 2021
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 4443
Abstract
The influence of filter-feeding bivalves on plankton communities, nutrients, and water quality in a given aquatic ecosystem is so profound that they can be considered ecosystem engineers. In a 70-day mesocosm experiment, we tested the hypothesis that Corbicula fluminea would change plankton community [...] Read more.
The influence of filter-feeding bivalves on plankton communities, nutrients, and water quality in a given aquatic ecosystem is so profound that they can be considered ecosystem engineers. In a 70-day mesocosm experiment, we tested the hypothesis that Corbicula fluminea would change plankton community structure by reducing small zooplankton and large phytoplankton and improve water quality by reducing nutrients. We monitored levels of nitrogen and phosphorus, organic suspended solids (OSS), and light at the sediment surface. Within the plankton, phytoplankton biomass (as Chl a, >0.45 μm), the biomass of microphytoplankton (>20 μm), nanophytoplankton (2–20 μm), picophytoplankton (0.2–2 μm), and zooplankton were determined. Compared with the controls, C. fluminea reduced the abundance of rotifers and the biomass of phytoplankton, and picophytoplankton, thereby modifying the plankton community structure. We did not observe reductions in TN and TP concentration, but OSS concentrations were reduced, and light intensity at the sediment surface was increased as a result of the improved water transparency. Our research shows that colonization by C. fluminea may modify plankton community structure and improve water quality of eutrophic shallow lakes, shedding further light on the ecological roles of filter-feeding bivalves in aquatic ecosystems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ecosystem-Based Understanding and Management of Eutrophication)
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12 pages, 2252 KiB  
Article
Omnivorous Carp (Carassius gibelio) Increase Eutrophication in Part by Preventing Development of Large-Bodied Zooplankton and Submerged Macrophytes
by Vladimir Razlutskij, Xueying Mei, Natallia Maisak, Elena Sysova, Dzmitry Lukashanets, Andrei Makaranka, Erik Jeppesen and Xiufeng Zhang
Water 2021, 13(11), 1497; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13111497 - 27 May 2021
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3455
Abstract
Fish, being an important consumer in aquatic ecosystems, plays a significant role by affecting the key processes of aquatic ecosystems. Omnivorous fish consume a variety of food both from pelagic and benthic habitats and may directly or indirectly affect the plankton community as [...] Read more.
Fish, being an important consumer in aquatic ecosystems, plays a significant role by affecting the key processes of aquatic ecosystems. Omnivorous fish consume a variety of food both from pelagic and benthic habitats and may directly or indirectly affect the plankton community as well as the lake trophic state. We conducted a 72-day outdoor experiment in mesocosms with and without Prussian carp (Carassius auratus) to evaluate the effect of this often-stocked omnivorous fish on the plankton community and water quality. We found that the presence of fish increased the biomass of planktonic algae, total and inorganic suspended solids, leading to decreased light intensity in the water and a lower biomass of benthic algae. Fish also prevented development of submerged macrophytes and the establishment of large-bodied zooplankton. However, the fish did not increase nitrogen concentrations and even was lowered total phosphorus levels, in part due to nutrient storage in the fish. We conclude that stocking of Prussian carp should be avoided, or removed where stocked and abundant, to obtain good ecological quality of shallow lakes, characterized by clear water and high abundance of macrophytes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ecosystem-Based Understanding and Management of Eutrophication)
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