[Impact and Mechanism of Medium and Small Flood Regulation in the Three Gorges Reservoir on the Phytoplankton in Tributary Bays].

Abstract

The regulation of small- and medium-sized floods （RSMF） has become the main mode of regulation in the flood season of the Three Gorges Reservoir （TGR）. To study the response of phytoplankton in the tributary bays of the TGR to the RSMF, a typical eutrophic tributary of the TGR, Xiangxi River, was investigated for the spatiotemporal distribution characteristics of phytoplankton and nutrients in the main and tributary streams from 2020 to 2021. The response characteristics of phytoplankton in the tributary bays to the RSMF were analyzed. The results indicated that during the RSMF, the chlorophyll a （Chl-a） in the water body of the Xiangxi River decreased with the increase in the water level in front of the dam, whereas during the reservoir impounding at the end of flood season, the concentration of Chl-a increased again. During the RSMF, the Chlorophyta and Diatoma were the main communities of planktonic algae in the Xiangxi River. The phytoplankton community changed with the RSMF. When the water level fluctuation increased, diatoms were the main species, whereas when the water level fluctuation was small, blue and green algae were the main species. The concentration of Chl-a was more sensitive to changes in TN concentration. When the flow velocity was >0.25 m·s^-1 or the suspended sediment content was >10 mg·L^-1, the concentration of Chl-a in the water was inhibited. After 2010, the typical outbreak time of algal blooms in the Xiangxi River Reservoir Bay shifted to the flood season, with only two non-flood season algal blooms. Further attention needs to be paid to the response of algal blooms in the reservoir to small- and medium-sized flood control during the flood season.