The phytoplankton community of a eutrophic reservoir

The dynamics of the phytoplankton community of a eutrophic reservoir are described for a two year period. Fifty-eight species were recorded, 25 of them common. Bacillariophyta dominated during the winter and early spring and Chlorophyta during late spring, to be replaced by a bloom of Cyanophyta. The mean and peak biomass of phytoplankton was 8.6 mg 1^–1 and 40.8 mg 1^–1 in 1981, and 8.3 mg 1^–1 and 37.6 mg 1^–1 in 1982. Temperature accounted for 67.3% and pH for 8% of the variation in total phytoplankton biomass over the two year period, using a multiple regression technique.Both horizontal and vertical patchiness, measured as an index of mean crowding, were recorded in the reservoir. Horizontal aggregations were associated with spring blooms of Chlorophyta and summer blooms of Cyanophyta, while vertical aggregations were most marked during the summer bloom of Cyanophyta. Concentrations of phytoplankton were influenced by wind, the prevailing southwesterly wind accumulating algae in the northeasterly arm of the reservoir during much of the year.