Littoral and limnetic phytoplankton distribution and biodiversity in a tropical man-made lake, Malaysia

Abstract

The distribution of the phytoplankton community in different zones of Putrajaya Lake, Malaysia was analyzed from October 2009 to September 2010 to examine the zonal-distribution relationship. Three stations representing three different lake zones namely Station 1 (littoral zone), Station 2 (sub-littoral zone) and Station 3 (limnetic zone) were selected. Water transparency, temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen and conductivity were found to be important factors characterizing each zone. A total of 148 species from 77 genera were recorded throughout the sampling duration from October 2009 until September 2010. During this period, Chlorophyta was the most abundant group (59% of the total phytoplankton), followed by Pyrrhophyta (15%), Cyanobacteria (11%), Bacillariophyceae (9%), Chrysophyceae (3%), Cryptophyta (2%) and Euglenophyta (1%). The highest mean density of phytoplankton was recorded in the limnetic zone (433.94 ± 18.29 cells ml-1), followed by sub-littoral (292.94 ± 18.61 cells ml-1) and littoral zone (199.58 ± 13.56 cells ml-1). There was a significant difference in the Shannon-Wiener diversity index for phytoplankton diversity and abundance in all three zones (p<0.05) with limnetic zone demonstrating the highest species diversity. 150 Asma' Jamal et al. Species commonly found in the sub-littoral area also dominated both littoral and limnetic phytoplankton communities suggesting that sub-littoral zone acted as an interphase for phytoplankton adaptation and migration between the two different zones. The findings suggest that spatial distribution and diversity of the phytoplankton community can be affected significantly by local lake zonation characterized by environmental variations.

Impact of Jute Retting on Phytoplankton Diversity and Aquatic Health: Biomonitoring in a Tropical Oxbow Lake

“…The SWI of phytoplankton was found community in the range of 3.4-3.5 (much higher than the present study) indicating slight pollution level and good water quality of Kankaria Lake in Ahmadabad city [Kumar and Sharma, 2014] unlike the present study and they also found Navicula to be dominant among the investigated phytoplankton genera with great impact on the lake water quality. Higher phytoplankton diversity value was found by [Jamal et al, 2014] of SWI (near 3.2-3.5) with evenness index (0.82-0.85) from manmade lake in Malaysia compared to the present study. Table 5 depicted SWI with pollution level as given by [Biligrami, 1988] and study values of phytoplankton diversity indices suggesting moderate to light pollution status of the oxbow lake.…”

Untitled

“…Previous studies in Putrajaya Lake only focused on assessing water quality and diversity of phytoplankton. Research on phytoplankton community structure as an ecosystem health indicator in the management of Putrajaya Lake and Putrajaya Wetlands Park indicated that there were 148 species from 77 genera identified during a sampling period from October 2009 until September 2010 (Jamal et al, 2014). Another study from November 2017 until January 2018 on phytoplankton diversity from three sites in Putrajaya Lake and Putrajaya Wetlands Park reported the discovery of 14 genera within eight classes (Sabkie et al, 2020).…”