Phytoplankton community of floodplain lakes of the Araguaia River, Brazil, in the rainy and dry seasons

This work analyses the attributes of the phytoplankton community(species richness, biovolume, diversity, equitability, abundance,dominance and size structure) associated with some physical,chemical and climatic variables of floodplain lakes of the AraguaiaRiver, central Brazil, in the rainy and dry seasons of 2000and 2001. The lakes in 2000 and 2001 presented different limnologicalcharacteristics between the periods of high and low water. Thephytoplankton comprised 292 taxa, mainly Chlorophyceae and nanoplankton.In the dry seasons of both years, the functional group Y (Cryptophyceae)was the most prominent association. In high-water periods, differentfunctional groups dominated the lakes. The canonical correspondenceanalysis (CCA) demonstrated a separation between the rainy anddry seasons of both years. The high and low water presenteddifferent dynamics in 2 years due to the influence of the floodpulse.