Seasonal variation of aquatic macrophytes and its relationship with environmental factors in Baiyangdian Lake, China

The relationships of aquatic macrophytes and 14 environmental factors of the Baiyangdian Lake in spring, summer and autumn were investigated by Pearson correlation analysis and redundancy analysis (RDA) method. The pollutant concentrations in water and sediment were at high level and changed obviously with season. TOC, NO₂-N and NH₄-N exhibited a strong correlation with other environmental factors in water. TC, TOC and TN had a strong correlation with other environmental factor in sediments. The total biomass of aquatic macrophytes reached its maximum value of 2411.6 g/m² in spring and the total species number achieved its maximum in summer. Potamogeton pectinatus was the most dominant species in three seasons. From RDA analysis, the top three water chemical factors that influence aquatic macrophytes were Chla, NO₃-N and TN (contributions of 14.6%, 13.8% and 10.5%, respectively). The top three environmental factors in sediment were TOC, IP and NH₄-N (contributions of 35.6%, 25.7% and 20.7%, respectively). The aquatic macrophytes also had distinct major environmental factors. The diversity indexes of the aquatic macrophytes had less than 0.5 fluctuations. This work might provide more insights into the control and remediation of lake pollution in North China.