In the present study, phytoplankton abundance and community structure were investigated and analyzed in June and November 2009 and April 2010 (e.g.highwater period,lowwater period and normalwater period,respectively) in Yuanhe River,a tributary of the lower reaches of Ganjiang River.The results showed that 109 species of phytoplankton were identified,belonging to 61 genera of 6 phyla,among which there were 54 species of 27 genera in Chlorophyta,30 species of 15 genera in Bacillariophyta,12 species of 11 genera in Cyanophyta,6 species of 6 genera in Euglenophyta,4 species of 3 genera in Pyrrophyta and 3 species of 2 genera in Cryptophyta.The phytoplankton abundance ranged from 112×105 to 12920×105 ind./ L.Cyanophyta was the dominant phylum in highwater period and lowwater period,while Bacillariophyta dominated in normalwater period.The constructive species of phytoplankton were the saprobic indicators and they were 〖WTBX〗Fragilaria capucina〖WTBZ〗 and 〖WTBX〗Phormidium tenue〖WTBZ〗 in highwater period,〖WTBX〗Chroomonas caudate〖WTBZ〗 and 〖WTBX〗Synedra amphicephala〖WTBZ〗 in lowwater period and Cyclotella meneghiniana in normalwater period,respectively.Through the analysis of biodiversity index,the ShannonWiener diversity index,Simpson diversity index,Pielou evenness index and Margalef abundance index of phytoplankton were 114~292,045~093,036~092 and 042~278,respectively.Furthermore,using the methods of modified bioindicator community and biodiversity index to biologically assess the water pollution,we found that both methods came to the general same results,It indicated that Yuanhe River was in αβmoderate pollution,and that there was a big difference in pollution levels among different sampling sites