HYDROGRAPHIC VARIATIONS IN SIZE STRUCTURE OF PLANKTON BIOMASS IN A CHANGJIANG FLOODPLAIN LAKE

The size structure of the planktonic community in a Changjiang floodplain lake (Lake Chenhu, Hubei, P. R. China) was described for the inundation period of May through September 1983. The modality of the Sheldon-type size distributions changed hydrographically with the spectral profiles being bimodal during low, rising, mid-high and falling water phases, and trimodal soon after filling and shortly before falling. The modal peaks corresponded respectively to the dominant organisms of chlorophytes and nauplii, while the troughs centered on the bacteria and macrocrustacean size classes in the lake. The slope of the normalized biomass spectrum (an index of plankton size distribution) was less than -1.0 for the filling and falling phases or close to -1.0 for the high water period, indicating that the planktonic biomass tended to decrease or evenly distributes across logarithmically ordered size classes, respectively. This observed variation in the size distribution of the plankton community mainly resulted from changes in water levels and contents of particulate inorganic matter (PIM) in the lake.

STUDIES ON MIXED MASS CULTIVATION OF ANABAENA SPP (NITROGEN-FIXING BLUE-GREEN-ALGAE, CYANOBACTERIA) ON A LARGE-SCALE

Studies on mixed mass cultivation of Anabaena spp. on a large scale (5170 m2) were conducted continuously for 3 years. Under the continental monsoon climate in northern subtropics (30-degrees-N, 115-degrees-E), 7-11 g dry weight m-2 day-1 of microalgal biomass on average was harvested in simple plastic greenhouses in the effective growth days during the warmer seasons. The maximum productivity was 22 g m-2 day-1 in the middle of summer. Observations on the productive properties of strains of Anabaena spp. indicated that they were different from and could compensate for each other in their productivities and adaptations to the seasonal changes. With different lining materials (PVC sheets, concrete, sand and soil) in the culture ponds, no significant variation of productivity was found, but bubbling with biogas in the middle of the day and the application of some growth regulating substances (2,4-D, NaHSO3 and extracts of oyster mushroom spawn) was able to improve the production. The cost of microalgal biomass in this way was around 0.75-1.0 US dollar(s) per kilogram.