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This study is the first attempt at the European scale to make an inventory of ecosystem services (ESS) of a large lake. We analysed a set of ESS indicators against the annual mean values of environmental parameters for 2006–2013. According to principal component analysis, the trophic state- and hydrology-related factors explained about 70% of the environmental variability of the lake and showed strong relationships with some ESS. Among the provisioning ESS, the annual eel catch and the total fish catch were positively related to different eutrophication indicators while the catches of pike, bream, and burbot depended rather on hydrological factors. Reed harvesting efficiency was related to the lake’s water level. The indicators of regulating, maintenance, and cultural ESS showed very high variability in different years, the latter depending on socio-economic conditions rather than environmental factors. We discovered numerous trade-offs between ESS benefitting from higher trophic state or regulated water level of the lake and the goals of good ecological status of the lake. Our analysis showed a clear need for rules prioritizing life supporting regulatory services against other ESS.

Different sources of particulate organic matter (POM) as well as its composition affect the biological food web and hence the self-purification potential and water quality of rivers. We studied the effect of a large shallow lake on the POM pool of the water passing through it. Over four years, we analysed monthly the amount and composition of POM and a set of environmental variables in the inflows and in the outflow of Lake Võrtsjärv (Estonia). In the inflows, the live pool of POM consisted of phytoplankton – small crypto-, dino-, and chlorophytes. The concentration of chlorophyll a (Chl a), as a proxy of phytoplankton biomass, was positively correlated with temperature and total phosphorus and negatively with dissolved silica, total nitrogen, and discharge. In the outflow, the share of the live component of POM was much larger than in the inflows but was also dominated by phytoplankton represented by grazing resistant filamentous cyanobacteria. Chl a was positively correlated with total phosphorus, temperature, pH, and precipitation, and negatively with dissolved silica, total nitrogen, and discharge in the outflow. The different amounts, composition, and seasonal dynamics of POM in the inflows and in the outflow have potentially substantial impacts on the food web with a predominating classical pathway in the inflows versus a detrital pathway in the outflow. This study was supported by the institutional research funding (IUT 21-2) of the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research and by the MARS project ‘Managing Aquatic Ecosystems and Water Resources under Multiple Stress’ funded under the 7th EU Framework Programme, Theme 6 ‘Environment including climate change’ (Contract No. 603378). We are grateful to Dr. Jonne Kotta and to the two anonymous reviewers for valuable comments on the manuscript. Mrs Ester Jaigma kindly revised the English text of the manuscript. The publication costs of this article were covered by the Estonian Academy of Sciences. This study was supported by the institutional research funding (IUT 21-2) of the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research and by the MARS project ‘Managing Aquatic Ecosystems and Water Resources under Multiple Stress’ funded under the 7th EU Framework Programme, Theme 6 ‘Environment including climate change’ (Contract No. 603378). We are grateful to Dr. Jonne Kotta and to the two anonymous reviewers for valuable comments on the manuscript. Mrs Ester Jaigma kindly revised the English text of the manuscript. The publication costs of this article were covered by the Estonian Academy of Sciences.