Impacts of water release operations on algal blooms in a tributary bay of Three Gorges Reservoir

Zheng, Tiegang; Mao, Jiayuan; Dai, Huichao; Liu, Defu

doi:10.1007/s11431-011-4371-7

Cited by 45 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…River reservoirs, being both a river and a reservoir, are commonly used for water supply, flood control, irrigation as well as hydroelectric power generation [10,11]. These dammed rivers are generally characterized by great lengths, slow water flow velocity and thus long hydraulic residence time [12,13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial and Temporal Variations in Environmental Variables in Relation to Phytoplankton Community Structure in a Eutrophic River-Type Reservoir

Zhao

Jiao

et al. 2017

Water

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This study assesses spatial and temporal variation in environmental variables in relation to phytoplankton community size and composition in a typically eutrophic river reservoir (Hai River, northern China). The aim is to identify environmental parameters governing spatial and temporal differences in phytoplankton density and composition. Physicochemical parameters, including nutrient concentrations, were determined in monthly surface water samples from 2015. The average concentration of key eutrophication indexes (i.e., total phosphorous (TP: 0.24 ± 0.11 mg·L −1 ), total nitrogen (TN: 2.96 ± 1.60 mg·L −1 ), and Chlorophyll a (Chl a: 38.5 ± 11.5 mg·m −3 )) substantially exceeded threshold values for eutrophic streams. Moreover, the eutrophication increased significantly downstream along the river reservoir as a consequence of an increasing fraction of agricultural and industrial land-use in the watershed. 103 phytoplankton species were identified, of which Chlorophyta was the dominated phylum (47 species), followed by Bacillariophyta (23 species) and Cyanophyta (18 species). No spatial difference in species distribution (ANOVA, p > 0.05) were found, while the temporal differences in species composition exhibited significant heterogeneity (ANOVA, p < 0.001). Phytoplankton abundance was highest in early summer (June and July), with maximum values increasing from 1.78 × 10 8 and 2.80 × 10 8 cells·L −1 in upstream and middle reaches, respectively, to 4.18 × 10 8 cells·L −1 furthest downstream. Cyanophyta, also known as Cyanobacteria and commonly referred to as blue-green algal, are known to constitute algae bloom in eutrophic systems. Common species are Microcystis marginata, Microcystis flos-aquae, and Oscillatoria sp. This was the dominant phyla during summer months, especially in the middle and lower reaches of the stream reservoir where it accounted for 88.9% of the phytoplankton community. Shannon weaver index (H') and Pielous's evenness index (J') were extremely low (1.91-2.43 for H' and 0.39-0.45 for J') in samples collected from the lower part of the stream during the period of algal bloom, indicating an imbalance in the phytoplankton communities. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) indicated that water temperature (WT) and possible pH, along with nitrate (NO 3 -N) and nitrite (NO 2 -N), were the most important explanatory parameters in regard to phytoplankton composition. This research provides an understanding of the role of physicochemical water quality parameters in governing algal blooms and phytoplankton composition in river reservoirs.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial and Temporal Variations in Environmental Variables in Relation to Phytoplankton Community Structure in a Eutrophic River-Type Reservoir

Zhao

Jiao

et al. 2017

Water

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“…Jiang [19] verifies the result and emphasizes that thermal stratified flow by water temperature difference should be considered for the algal bloom control. Then, analysis is conducted to validate that a wave-type water release operation is beneficial in reducing algal bloom in the tributary [20]. Furthermore, a feasible water level process of TGR is also demonstrated to be helpful for controlling phytoplankton blooms in the tributary bays by the analysis of mixing depth [21].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reservoir Operation Rules for Controlling Algal Blooms in a Tributary to the Impoundment of Three Gorges Dam

Lian

Yao

et al. 2014

Water

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Abstract:Since the first impoundment of Three Gorges Dam in 2003, algal blooms occur frequently in the near-dam tributaries. It is widely recognized that the impoundment-induced change in hydrodynamic condition with the lower current velocity will make the eutrophication problem even more severe when an excessive amount of nutrients is already loaded into a reservoir and/or its tributaries. Operation tests carried out by Three Gorges Corporation in 2010 point to some feasible reservoir operation schemes that may have positive impacts on reducing the algal bloom level. In our study, an attempt is made to obtain, through a numerical hydrodynamic and water quality modeling and analysis, the reservoir operation rules that would reduce the level of algal blooms in the Xiangxi River (XXR), a near-dam tributary. Water movements and algal blooms in XXR are simulated and analyzed under different scenarios of one-day water discharge fluctuation or two-week water level variation. The model results demonstrate that the reservoir operations can further increase the water exchange between the mainstream of the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) and the XXR tributary and thus move a larger amount of algae into the deep water where it will die. Analysis of the model results indicate that the water discharge fluctuation constituted of a lower valley-load flow and a larger flow difference for the short-term operation (within a day), the rise in water level for the medium-term operation (e.g., over OPEN ACCESSWater 2014, 6 3201 weeks), and the combination of the above two for the long-term operation (e.g., over months) can be the feasible reservoir operation rules in the non-flood season for TGR.

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“…Since the discharge and pollutant load into XR are predominantly larger [11], other tributaries were considered as closed bay in the simulation. Serious water quality problems had occurred in these tributaries due to insufficient water mixing or flowing based on the in-situ observation [4]. Therefore, a high initial concentration of nutrients and chlorophyll-a is used in the calculation.…”

Section: Study Casementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Particularly, many hydrodynamic and water quality models have been applied for examining the TGR algal blooms, which include 1-Dimensional [1], vertical 2-Dimensional [2] and 3-Dimensional [3] models. From the previous works, it was found that the flowing field, solute transport and phytoplankton biomass evolution in TGR present significant spatial and temporal variations [4]; hence, a 3-dimensional model is considered better suited for the modeling purpose. Generally, the 3-dimensioal models can be divided into structured and unstructured meshes [3]; however, the model cannot well follow the complex boundary and subaqueous relief in TGR.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The detailed structure and general performance of this model was initially reported in Li [7]. The WASP model used here has been extended considering the updated research literatures [8] and the local characteristics about TGR water quality problem [4]. As an continual work to the previous study [7], the algal bloom occurred in 2007 was more extensively simulated and reported by the coupled models aiming at understanding the changing process of the horizontal and vertical distribution of phytoplankton biomass (chlorophyll-a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evaluating Chlorophyll-aChanges During Algal Bloom in Three Gorges Reservoir Using an Extended WASP Model

Qin

Chen

2016

MATEC Web of Conferences

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Abstract. Algal bloom in Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) and one of its tributaries, Xiangxi River (XR), have become major concerns and the dynamic changes of such events were investigated using the hydrodynamic model SELFE and the extended Water Quality Analysis Simulation Program (WASP) model to address nutrient and biomass dynamics. The model has taken into consideration the surface wind, heat fluxes, oxygen exchanges, solar radiations and boundary conditions from main river channel and tributaries. As an extension to our previous work, this study aimed to report in more detailed the result of chlorophyll-a simulations, where the field observed data of algal blooms in TGR in 2007 was used for calibration and the horizontal and vertical distributions of phytoplankton biomass (based on chlorophyll-a) were presented. It was found that the chlorophyll-a concentration characterized as algal biomass was influenced by many complex factors. Further study results are yet to be reported.

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Impacts of water release operations on algal blooms in a tributary bay of Three Gorges Reservoir

Cited by 45 publications

References 23 publications

Spatial and Temporal Variations in Environmental Variables in Relation to Phytoplankton Community Structure in a Eutrophic River-Type Reservoir

Spatial and Temporal Variations in Environmental Variables in Relation to Phytoplankton Community Structure in a Eutrophic River-Type Reservoir

Reservoir Operation Rules for Controlling Algal Blooms in a Tributary to the Impoundment of Three Gorges Dam

Evaluating Chlorophyll-aChanges During Algal Bloom in Three Gorges Reservoir Using an Extended WASP Model

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