Relationship between diatom communities and environmental conditions at Honghe wetland, China

Abstract

The relationship between diatom species and measured environmental variables was explored at different sites of Honghe wetland region located in northeastern China. Planktonic and epiphytic diatom assemblages in the wetland were identified from May to October of 2007 and 2008. Their relationships with environmental variables were examined using canonical correspondence analysis with forward selection and Monte Carlo permutation. The test revealed that each of the eight environmental variables, pH, total phosphorus (TP), total nitrogen (TN), total organic carbon (TOC), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), dissolved Oxygen (DO) and water temperature (WT) were statistical significant fractions of the variation in diatom taxa. This study reveals that DO was the most important environmental variables affecting diatom communities in the wetland. It also indicated that water quality in Honghe wetland were oligosaprobic and mesosaprobic.

Key words: Honghe wetland, environmental variables, canonical correspondence analysis, diatom communities, water quality.