Disentangling the drivers of phytoplankton community composition in a heavily sediment-laden transcontinental river

Phytoplankton play a crucial role in energy flow and carbon cycling in aquatic ecosystems; however, exploring the driving factors influencing phytoplankton, especially in heavily sediment-laden rivers, is challenging. We analyzed 704 samples from 44 sampling sites along the Yellow River to investigate the biogeographic, environmental, and anthropogenic impacts on the phytoplankton community composition. Using cluster analysis, we identified three different phytoplankton community compositions in Regions Ⅰ, Ⅱ, and Ⅲ, which were consistent with the three primary changes in the water-surface slope across the three regions. The sampling results showed that the Bacillariophyta primarily consisted of Navicula, Cyclotella, Synedra, Fragilaria, Gyrosigma, Diatoma, and Asterionella. In addition, representation by Chlorophyta was dominated by Chlamydomonas, Pandorina, Closteriopsis, and Closterium, while Phormidium was the dominant Cyanophyta genus. The variation partitioning results indicated that spatial factors (geographic distance) were the most important determinants of phytoplankton community succession. Additionally, our results highlighted that the influence of spatial and climatic factors on the succession of the phytoplankton community structure was much greater than that of the water quality. Compared to that in the free-flowing river, the phytoplankton biomass in the impoundment was much higher, and the phytoplankton community was dominated by Dinophyta, Chlorophyta, and Cyanophyta, primarily because of anthropogenic impacts. Based on the composition and biomass of phytoplankton communities in different regions, the phytoplankton community composition in the Yellow River was found to be primarily influenced by the erosion of the watershed and the inflow of tributaries rather than by limited in situ algae growth.