The study was conducted in the Tigris River in Baghdad during May 2021 until March 2022 to follow the impact of climate change, rising temperatures, and the presence of pollutants on the dynamics of phytoplankton and some physicochemical variables from four sites. The results showed that the climatic conditions during different seasons, in addition to the nature of the sampling sites, have a clear and significant impact on the studied traits and, in turn, affect the phytoplankton community. The highest average temperature (30.67 ˚C) was recorded; the pH values ranged between 8.70 & 6.75; the electrical conductivity (1208.18-770.11 µS/cm ) and the total dissolved solids (TDS) (778.95- 439.49 mg/L) were evaluated. Upon measuring the total hardness and turbidity, a significant increase was detected at the third site during winter, amounting to 67.26 NUT and 775.46mg/ L, respectively. The dissolved oxygen concentration (DO) was recorded at the fourth site during winter (10.08- 4.67 mg/L), while the BOD ranges were 4.87- 2.51mg/ L. A benefit in the average values of plant nutrients was detected at the third site affected by the waste liquid disposal area of the Medical City Hospital Complex compared to the nutrient concentration at the other three sites, which was 3.43, 4.87, 13.50 & 409.00mg/ L for NO3 PO4 and SiO2 and S04, respectively, The study was able to classify 161 species of phytoplankton belonging to 69 genus, the largest percentage of which was Baciliariophyceae (42%), followed by Cyanophyceae (27%), Chlorophyceae (24%), Euglenophyceae (4%) and 1% for Chrysophyceae, Xanthphyceae, and Cryptophyceae. Recent years have witnessed severe climatic conditions affecting various environmental factors in the study area. The phytoplankton community has been vulnerable to their impact altering the physical and chemical properties of the river water. This indicates that the aquatic environment responds to climatic conditions.
