Journal of Environmental Biology

Plankton community characteristics of natural

and man-made tropical lakes

Z. Sharip¹* and F. Md. Yusoff²

¹Lake Research Unit, Research Centre for Water Quality and Environment, National Hydraulic Research Institute of Malaysia, Lot 5377,

Jalan Putra Permai 43300 Seri Kembangan, Selangor Malaysia

²Laboratory of Marine Biotechnology, Institute of Bioscience, University Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

*Corresponding Author E-mail: zati@nahrim.gov.my???????????

Key words

Lentic ecosystems

Multivariate analyses

Phytoplankton community Tropical lakes

Publication Data

Paper received : 21.05.2016???????

Revised received : 04.11.2016????

Re-revised received : 23.04.2017

Accepted : 22.05.2017????????? ????????????

Abstract

Aim: Plankton community assemblages in both natural and man-made lakes are greatly influenced by the environmental variations, which in turn are dependent on the lake morphometric characteristics, edaphic conditions, climatic changes and the surrounding anthropogenic activities. The main objective of the present study was to investigate the pattern of phytoplankton and zooplankton composition and density, and their relationship with the water chemistry in three different lakes of Malaysia.

Methodology: Water quality, phytoplankton and zooplankton abundance were measured in a natural lake and two reservoirs in Malaysia. Multivariate and univariate analyses were performed to compare the differences in community assemblages between a natural lake and a reservoir of same depth, and a shallow and a deep reservoir.? ????????

Results: Marked lake variations were observed in the phytoplankton density. Dominant phytoplankton groups were Cryptophyta and Bacillariophyta in the shallow Bera Lake, Chlorophyta in the shallow Bukit Merah Reservoir and Euglenophyta and Chlorophyta in the deeper Durian Tunggal reservoir. Both man-made lakes had significantly higher (P < 0.05) plankton densities compared to the natural lake. The shallower Bukit Merah Reservoir had higher phytoplankton density compared to the deeper Durian Tunggal Reservoir. Dissolved oxygen and pH levels were correlated to the phytoplankton and zooplankton communities in the Bera floodplain, whilst nutrient and chlorophyll-a concentrations were important factors affecting the phytoplankton and zooplankton assemblages, respectively,in the Durian Tunggal and Bukit Merah reservoirs. ??????????

Interpretation: Plankton community in shallow tropical lakes have different characteristics and composition compared to the deeper ones, and thus requiring different management measures.

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