ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Ecol. Evol.
Sec. Population, Community, and Ecosystem Dynamics
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fevo.2025.1645248
Effect of decreased suspended sediment content on chlorophyll-a in Dongting Lake, China
Provisionally accepted
Le Zhang1Yu Lou2Jinhua Mei3
Haipeng Wu1*Le Xia3
Juan Dai4Yuping Dai1Guxiang Xu1Yuantao Yu1Jiehui Wang1- 1Changsha University of Science and Technology, Changsha, China
- 2Science and Technology Promotion Center Ministry of Water Resources P.R.C., Beijing, China
- 3Hunan Center of Natural Resources Affairs, Changsha, China
- 4Changjiang River Scientific Research Institute, Wuhan, China
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Global damming of rivers strongly impacts the transport and characteristic of sediment, resulting in a significant reduction in the suspended sediment content (SSC) flowing into the downstream. The reduction in SSC may influence chlorophyll-a (Chla) concentrations in water, thereby further affecting the aquatic ecological environment.However, the effect of reduced SSC on Chl-a is poorly studied. Here, we compared and analyzed the distribution conditions of Chl-a in 6 representative years for both before the implementation of TGD (BIT) and after the implementation of TGD (AIT), using the TM/OLI data and NIR-red inversion model. The findings showed that, from BIT to AIT, the area proportion of ultraoligotrophic state significantly decreased, while the area proportion of oligotrophic, mesotrophic, and eutrophic states significantly increased, with eutrophic state observed for the first time in 2017. Additionally, a significant correlation between Chl-a concentration and SSC was found. The area proportion of ultraoligotrophic state was positively correlated with SSC, while oligotrophic and mesotrophic states were negatively correlated with SSC. The reduction in SSC enhanced water promoting phytoplankton growth and consequently increasing Chl-a concentrations. This study highlights the spatiotemporal variations of Chl-a dynamics in DL before and after the operation of the TGD and discusses the impacts of SSC on water trophic states and the ecosystem. The findings provide valuable scientific insights for large-scale lake water quality monitoring and offer critical reference points 34 for future water quality management strategies.
Keywords: remote sensing, chlorophyll-a, Suspended sediment concentration, Spatiotemporal variation, Dongting Lake
Received: 11 Jun 2025; Accepted: 21 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Lou, Mei, Wu, Xia, Dai, Dai, Xu, Yu and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Haipeng Wu, Changsha University of Science and Technology, Changsha, China
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