Which factors affect phytoplankton biomass in shallow eutrophic lakes?

Abstract

The restoration and management of shallow, pond-like systems are hindered by limitations in the applicability of the well-known models describing the relationship between nutrients and lake phytoplankton biomass in higher ranges of nutrient concentration. Trophic models for naturally eutrophic small, shallow, endorheic lakes have not yet been developed, even though these are the most frequent standing waters in continental lowlands. The aim of this study was to identify variables that can be considered as main drivers of phytoplankton biomass and to build a predictive model. The influence of potential drivers of phytoplankton biomass (nutrients, other chemical variables, land use, lake use and lake depth) from 24 shallow eutrophic lakes was tested using data in the Pannonian Ecoregion (Hungary and Romania). By incorporating lake depth, TP, TN and lake use as independent and Chl-a as dependent variables into different models (multiple regression model, GLM and multilayer perception model) predictive models were built. These models explained >50% of the variance. Although phytoplankton biomass in small, shallow, enriched lakes is strongly influenced by stochastic effects, our results suggest that phytoplankton biomass can be predicted by applying a multiple stressor approach, and that the model results can be used for management purposes.

Defining ecologically relevant water quality targets for lakes in Europe

“…; Borics et al . ). As well as different targets, these lakes may require different management measures as a reduction in nutrient loading may not result in an expected response.…”

“…A further limitation of our study is that the results cannot be applied to all lake types, a particular example being naturally eutrophic lakes of continental lowlands (Borics et al . ) that were not included in our analysis. Due to the high evaporation/precipitation ratio and low geographical relief, these water bodies have long water residence times and are practically endorheic.…”

Resisting annihilation: relationships between functional trait dissimilarity, assemblage competitive power and allelopathy

“…Details of the collection methods for the eight lakes, including sampling and microscopy analyses for cellular size measurements can be found in those studies (Gaedke & Schweizer ; Gaedke ; Borics et al . , ; Michaloudi et al . ; Zohary et al .…”

“…Lake Koronia is a heavily modified hypereutrophic system of large area and shallow depth. Details of the collection methods for the eight lakes, including sampling and microscopy analyses for cellular size measurements can be found in those studies Gaedke 1998;Borics et al 2000Borics et al , 2013Michaloudi et al 2009;Zohary et al 2012;Moustaka-Gouni et al 2014). Time-series data for Lakes Mikri Prespa, Volvi, Koronia, and Kinneret included temporal variation in species-specific cellular size.…”

Multi-Elements in Waters and Sediments of Shallow Lakes: Relationships with Water, Sediment, and Watershed Characteristics

“…Cyr et al 1994; Thorbergsdottir and Gislason 2004; Mi et al 2008). Some research has explored how nutrients in lakes relate to nearby land use (Fraterrigo and Downing 2008; Wezel et al 2013) and phytoplankton biomass (Grace et al 2010; Borics et al 2013). Related studies of shallow lakes have focused on identifying factors responsible for water-clarity regime shifts, variations in phytoplankton biomass, and macrophyte abundance (Schippers et al 2006; Zimmer et al 2009; Bayley et al 2013; Brothers et al 2013; Llames et al 2013; Zhang et al 2013; Robin et al 2014).…”