0000000000110083
AUTHOR
Brian Moss
Distribution patterns of epiphytic reed-associated macroinvertebrate communities across European shallow lakes
So far, research on plant-associated macroinvertebrates, even if conducted on a large number of water bodies, has mostly focused on a relatively small area, permitting limited conclusions to be drawn regarding potentially broader geographic effects, including climate. Some recent studies have shown that the composition of epiphytic communities may differ considerably among climatic zones. To assess this phenomenon, we studied macroinvertebrates associated with the common reed Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud in 46 shallow lakes using a common protocol. The lakes, located in nine countries, covered almost the entire European latitudinal range (from <48°N to 61°N) and captured much …
Response of zooplankton to nutrient enrichment and fish in shallow lakes: a pan-European mesocosm experiment
1. Responses of zooplankton to nutrient enrichment and fish predation were studied in 1998 and 1999 by carrying out parallel mesocosm experiments in six lakes across Europe. 2. Zooplankton community structure, biomass and responses to nutrient and fish manipulation showed geographical and year-to-year differences. Fish had a greater influence than nutrients in regulating zooplankton biomass and especially the relative abundances of different functional groups of zooplankton. When fish reduced the biomass of large crustaceans, there was a complementary increase in the biomasses of smaller crustacean species and rotifers. 3. High abundance of submerged macrophytes provided refuge for zooplank…
Warmer climates boost cyanobacterial dominance in shallow lakes
Dominance by cyanobacteria hampers human use of lakes and reservoirs worldwide. Previous studies indicate that excessive nutrient loading and warmer conditions promote dominance by cyanobacteria, but evidence from global scale field data has so far been scarce. Our analysis, based on a study of 143 lakes along a latitudinal transect ranging from subarctic Europe to southern South America, shows that although warmer climates do not result in higher overall phytoplankton biomass, the percentage of the total phytoplankton biovolume attributable to cyanobacteria increases steeply with temperature. Our results also reveal that the percent cyanobacteria is greater in lakes with high rates of ligh…
Factors controlling hydrochemical and trophic state variables in 86 shallow lakes in Europe
In order to disentangle the causes of variations in water chemistry among European shallow lakes, we performed standardised sampling programs in 86 lakes along a latitudinal gradient from southern Spain to northern Sweden. Lakes with an area of 0.1 to 27 000 ha and mean depth of 0.4–5.6 m located in low to high altitudes were investigated within the EC project ECOFRAME 1–4 times during June–October 2000–2001. Several variables like conductivity, alkalinity, abundance of submerged plants, concentrations of suspended solids, total nitrogen and phosphorus were latitude-dependent decreasing from south to north. Secchi depth, concentrations of total nitrogen, total phosphorus, suspended solids, …
Responses of phytoplankton to fish predation and nutrient loading in shallow lakes: a pan-European mesocosm experiment
1. The impacts of nutrients (phosphorus and nitrogen) and planktivorous fish on phytoplankton composition and biomass were studied in six shallow, macrophyte-dominated lakes across Europe using mesocosm experiments. 2. Phytoplankton biomass was more influenced by nutrients than by densities of planktivorous fish. Nutrient addition resulted in increased algal biomass at all locations. In some experiments, a decrease was noted at the highest nutrient loadings, corresponding to added concentrations of 1 mg L1 P and 10 mg L1 N. 3. Chlorophyll a was a more precise parameter to quantify phytoplankton biomass than algal biovolume, with lower within-treatment variability. 4. Higher densities of pla…