HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOMS IN UPPER-CASCADE DNIEPER RESERVIOIRS UNDER PRESENT CONDITIONS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15407/dopovidi2026.01.062Keywords:
harmful algal blooms, Cyanobacteria, phytoplankton, climate change, nitrogen, phosphorus, eutrophication, Dnieper River, water reservoirs.Abstract
On the grounds of the complex long-term field observations, the paper considers the Cyanobacteria response to the increase in the inorganic phosphorus content, the decline in the nitrogen content and Σ N:Р ratio and describes the biological and ecological characteristics of Cyanobacteria on the background of abnormal rise in the water temperature. A significant positive correlation was found between the total inorganic nitrogen content and the number of cyanobacterial cells and biomass in Kyiv and Kaniv Reservoirs (for cell count: r = 0.50, p = 0.02; for biomass r = 0.58, p = 0.007). A curvilinear relation has been obtained between Cyanobacteria biomass and phosphorus content. A more detailed analysis of the graph makes it possible to distinguish two ranges of phosphorus content: 1st — from trace concentrations to 0.05 mg P/dm3, within which there is a statistically significant correlation between phosphorus and Cyanobacteria biomass (r = 0.74; p = 0.009); 2nd — above 0.05 mg Р/dm3, where there is no significant correlation between phosphorus and Cyanobacteria biomass. It can be predicted that a further increase in phosphorus content in the Dnieper reservoirs will no longer have a direct impact on the development of Cyanobacteria, but this requires additional comprehensive research. The relation between the Σ N:P ratio and the number of phytoplankton cells (biomass) represents a parabolic curve with the maximum values within the Σ N:P ratio 10.0—29.9. Under present environmental conditions harmful algal blooms in the upper-cascade Dniper reservoirs are driven by the following factors: global climate change, as Cyanobacteria are the most adapted to increase in water temperature; inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus content, which do not limit Cyanobacteria growth; adaptation mechanisms of Cyanobacteria on the species-population and ecosystem levels developed in the course of evolution, which allow Cyanobacteria to dominate in the phytoplankton of the Dnieper.
Downloads
References
Roll, Ya. V. (1930). The question of phytoplankton of the middle reaches of the Dnieper. Zbirnyk prats Dniprovskoi biolohichnoi stantsii, Pt. 5, No. 3, pp. 269-296 (in Ukrainian).
Shcherbak, V. I. (1998). Long-term dynamics of algal blooms in the Dnieper reservoirs. Dop. NAN Ukrainy, No. 7, pp. 187-190 (in Russian).
Topachevskyi, A. V. (Ed.). (1968). Algal Blooms. Kyiv: Naukova Dumka (in Russian).
Priymachenko, A. D. (1981). Phytoplankton and primary production of the Dnieper and the Dnieper reser- voirs. Kyiv: Naukova Dumka (in Russian).
Kondratieva, N.V. (Ed.). (1989). Vegetation and bacterial population of the Dnieper and its reservoirs. Kyiv: Naukova Dumka (in Russian).
Shcherbak, V. I. (2019). Response of phytoplankton of the Kiev Reservoir to the increase in summer tempera- tures. Hydrobiol. J., 55, No. 1, pp. 18-35. https://doi.org/10.1615/HydrobJ.v55.i1.20
Shcherbak, V. I., Semenyuk, N. Ye. & Yakushyn, V. M. (2022). Phytoplankton structural and functional organization in a large lowland reservoir under the global climate change (case study of the Kaniv Reservoir). Hydrobiol. J., 58, No. 6, pp. 3-27. https://doi.org/10.1615/HydrobJ.v58.i6.10
Shcherbak, V.I., Semenyuk, N.Ye. & Maystrova, N. V. (2024). Characteristics of Cyanobacteria at different stages of existence of the Kyiv Reservoir. Hydrobiol. J., 60, No. 1, pp. 3-27. https://doi.org/10.1615/HydrobJ.v60.i1.10
Semeniuk, N. Ye., Shcherbak, V. І., Davydov, O. A. & Koziychuk, E. Sh. (2025). Dynamics of local phytoplankton communities in the upper-cascade Dnieper reservoirs under present conditions. Algologia, 35, No. 1, pp. 30-57 (in Ukrainian). https://doi.org/10.15407/alg35.01.030
Shcherbak, V. I. (1999). Primary production of algae in the Dnieper and Dnieper Reservoirs. Hydrobiol. J., 1999, 35, No. 1, pp. 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1615/HydrobJ.v35.i1.10
Shcherbak, V. I. & Maistrova, N. V. (2001). Phytoplankon of the Kyiv section of the Kaniv Reservoir and factors driving its development. Kyiv: Institute of Hydrobiology of the NAS of Ukraine (in Ukrainian).
Boris Sreznevsky Central Geophysical Observatory. Climate data for the city of Kyiv. 2023. Retrieved from http://cgo-sreznevskyi.kyiv.ua/uk/diialnist/klimatolohichna/klimatychni-dani-po-kyievu
Linnik, P. N. (2004). Formation of hydrochemical conditions in the water reservoirs. In: Landau, Yu. & Siren- ko, L. (Eds.). Hydropower and Environment (pp. 219-236). Kyiv: Libra (in Russian).
Shcherbak, V. I., Yakushin, V. M., Zadorozhnaya, A. M., Semenyuk, N. Ye. & Linchuk, M. I. (2016). Seasonal and interannual dynamics of phytoplankton, phytomicroepiphyton, and nutrients content in the River Section of the Kanev Reservoir. Hydrobiol. J., 52, No. 1, pp. 49-61. https://doi.org/10.1615/HydrobJ.v52.i1.50
Yakushin, V. M., Shcherbak, V. I., Semenyuk, N. Ye. & Linchuk, M. I. (2017). Hydrochemical characteristics of the Kiev Reservoir at the present time. Hydrobiol. J., 2017, 53, No. 6, pp. 96-109. https://doi.org/10.1615/ HydrobJ.v53.i6.100
Lishchuk, A. V. (2007). Ecological and physiological fundamentals of phytoplankton development in the freshwater ecosystems. (Extended abstract of Doctor thesis). Institute of Hydrobiology of the NAS of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine (in Ukrainian).
Shcherbak, V. I. & Maistrova, N. V. (2019, November). Response of the Dnieper phytoplankton to the change in the nutrient conditions. Proceedings of the 8th Congress of the Hydroecological Society of Ukraine Prospects of hydroecological research in the context of environmental problems and social challenges (pp. 100-102). Kyiv (in Ukrainian).
Jørgensen, S. E. (1980). Lake Management Oxford: Pergamon Press.
Qi, J., Deng, L., Song, Y., Qi, W. & Hu, C. (2022). Nutrient thresholds required to control eutrophication: does it work for natural alkaline lakes? Water, 14, No. 17, 2674. https://doi.org/10.3390/w14172674
Vollenweider, R. A. (1968). Scientific fundamentals of the eutrophication of lakes and flowing waters, with particular reference to phosphorus and nitrogen as factors in eutrophication. Paris: Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development.
Wang, H.-J., Liang, X.-M., Jiang, P.-H., Wu, S.-K. & Wang, H.-Z. (2008). TN : TP ratio and planktivorous fish do not affect nutrient-chlorophyll relationships in shallow lake. Freshw. Biol., 53, No. 5, pp. 935-944. https://doi. org/10.1111/j.1365-2427.2007.01950.x
Redfield, A. C. (1958). The biological control of chemical factors in the environment. Am. Sci., 46, pp. 205-221.
Denisova, A. I. (1979). Formation of hydrochemical conditions in the Dnieper water reservoirs and methods of its forecasting. Kyiv: Naukova Dumka (in Ukrainian).
Denisova, A. I. (1989). Hydrochemical conditions in the water reservoirs. In: Shevchenko, M. A. (Ed.). Hydrology and Hydrochemistry of the Dnieper and its Reservoirs (pp. 116-169). Kyiv: Naukova Dumka (in Russian).
Tseeb, Ya. (Ed.). (1967). Hydrobiological regime of the Dnieper under conditions of regulated flow. Kyiv: Naukova Dumka (in Russian).
Smith, V. H. (1982). The nitrogen and phosphorus dependence of algal biomass in lakes: an empirical and theoretical analysis. Limnol. Oceanogr., 27, No. 6, pp. 1101-1112. https://doi.org/10.4319/lo.1982.27.6.1101
Quinlan, R., Filazzola, A., Mahdiyan, O., Shuvo, A., Blagrave, K., Ewins, C., Moslenko, L., Gray, D. K., O’Reilly,
C. M. & Sharma, S. (2021). Relationships of total phosphorus and chlorophyll in lakes worldwide. Limnol. Oceanogr., 66, No. 2, pp. 392-404. https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.11611
Wan, Z., Jonasson, L. & Bi, H. (2011). N/P ratio of nutrient uptake in the Baltic Sea. Ocean Sci., 7, No. 5, pp. 693-704. https://doi.org/10.5194/os-7-693-2011
Fink, G., Alcamo, J., Flörke, M. & Reder, K. (2018). Phosphorus loadings to the world’s largest lakes: sources and trends. Global Biogeochem. Cy., 32, No. 4, pp. 617-634. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GB005858
Shcherbak, V. I. & Kuzmenko, M. I. (1987). Intensity of photosynthesis by phytoplankton at various depths in the photic zone. Hydrobiol. J., 23, No. 2, pp. 20-25.
Shcherbak, V. I. & Zhdanova, G. A. (1988). Use of P/B coefficient of algae as a measure of the effect of zooplankton on primary production of phytoplankton. Hydrobiol. J., 24, No. 5, pp. 78-79.
Boonbangkeng, D., Treesubsuntorn, C., Krobthong, S., Yingchutrakul, Y., Pekkoh, J. & Thiravetyan, P. (2022). Using cell-free supernatant of Bacillus sp. AK3 in combination with Chlorella to remove harmful algal bloom species, TP, TN, and COD from water. J. Environ. Chem. Eng., 10, No. 6, 108645. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. jece.2022.108645
Dubniak, S. S. (2001). Ecological aspects of the hydrological regime of the Kiev section of the Kanev Reservoir. Hydrobiol. J., 37, No. 5, pp. 67-78. https://doi.org/10.1615/HydrobJ.v37.i5.60
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Reports of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
