Phytoplankton and relationship between phytoplankton community and environmental parameters of some water bodies in Soc Trang province

Abstract

This study was carried out to evaluate the seasonal variation of phytoplankton and its relationship with environmental parameters of some inland water bodies in Soc Trang province. A total of 171 phytoplankton taxa belonging to Cyanophyta (24 species), Chrysophyta (2 species), Bacillariophyta (65 species), Chlorophyta (43 species), Euglenophyta (34 species), and Dinophyta (3 species) were studied. The phytoplankton species composition during the rainy season was higher than in the dry season, in which Bacillariophyta dominated in both seasons. Surface water quality was classified into class A2 for pH, phosphate, and nitrate whereas class B2 for dissolved oxygen (DO), total suspended solids (TSS), ammonium, chemical oxygen demand (COD), and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) (according to QCVN 08:2015/BTNMT). Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) results revealed that environmental factors influenced the phytoplankton community. Of which the factors of pH, electric conductivity (EC), salinity, turbidity, TSS, and phosphate affected the phytoplankton assemblage in both seasons. The results confirm the potential of using phytoplankton as a bioindicator for surface water quality assessment.