Spatial distribution and pollution assessment of mercury in sediments of Lake Taihu,China

Spatial distribution patterns of total mercury （THg） in 36 surficial sediment samples representing five regions of Lake Taihu were assessed using the ArcGis geostatistical analyst module. The pollution levels of THg were also evaluated from the same five lake regions. Concentrations of THg were in a ranged of 23-168 ng/g （mean 55 ng/g） in surfical sediments, which was significantly higher than those established baseline levels of the lake. Results of THg indicated that the northern region exhibited notably higher values, the bay regions showed elevated values relative to open areas, and the lakeside regions were higher than those observed in the central area. Lake Taihu suffered moderate to high Hg pollution, and expressed clear Hg enrichment status according to monomial pollution index I geo and human activity factors. The concentrations of THg in the surficial sediments of Lake Taihu showed moderate-strong variation （coefficient of variation 52%）. Geostatistical analysis indicated a weak spatial self-correlation, suggesting the contamination of Hg in Lake Taihu is primarily the result of anthropogenic activities.

Spatiotemporal heterogeneity of phytoplankton diversity and its relation to water environmental factors in the southern waters of Miaodao Archipelago,China

To study the water quality influenced by the anthropogenic activities and its impact on the phytoplankton diversity in the surface waters of Miaodao Archipelago, the spatiotemporal variations in phytoplankton communities and the environmental properties of the surface waters surrounding the Five Southern Islands of Miaodao Archipelago were investigated, based on seasonal field survey conducted from November 2012 to August 2013. During the survey, a total of 109 phytoplankton species from 3 groups were identified in the southern waters of Miaodao Archipelago, of which 77 were diatoms, 29 were dinoflagellates, and 3 were chrysophytes. Species number was higher in winter（73）, moderate in autumn（70）, but lower in summer（31） and spring（27）. The species richness index in autumn（5.92） and winter（4.28） was higher than that in summer（2.83） and spring（1.41）.The Shannon-Wiener diversity index was high in autumn（2.82）, followed by winter（1.99） and summer（1.92）, and low in spring（0.07）. The species evenness index in autumn（0.46） and summer（0.39） was higher than that in winter（0.32） and spring（0.02）. On the basis of principal component analysis（PCA） and redundancy analysis（RDA）, we found that dissolved inorganic nitrogen（DIN） and chemical oxygen demand（COD） in spring, COD in summer, p H in autumn, and salinity and oil pollutant in winter, respectively, showed the strongest association with the distribution of phytoplankton diversity. The spatial heterogeneity of the southern waters of Miaodao Archipelago was quite obvious, and three zones, i.e., northeastern, southwestern and inter-island water area, were identified by cluster analysis（CA） based on key environmental variables.