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The present study aims at investigating the past and current trophic status of Lake Ossa and evaluating its potential impact on African manatee health. Lake Ossa is known as a refuge for the threatened African manatees in Cameroon. Little information exists on the water quality and health of the ecosystem as reflected by its chemical and biological characteristics. Aquatic biotic and abiotic parameters including water clarity, nitrogen, phosphorous, and chlorophyll concentrations were measured monthly during four months at each of 18 water sampling stations evenly distributed across the lake. These parameters were then compared with historical values obtained from the literature to examine the dynamic trophic state of Lake Ossa. Results indicate that Lake Ossa's trophic state parameters doubled in only three decades (from 1985 to 2016), moving from a mesotrophic to a eutrophic state. The decreasing nutrient gradient moving from the mouth of the lake (in the south) to the north indicates that the flow of the adjacent Sanaga River is the primary source of nutrient input. Further analysis suggests that the poor transparency of the lake is not associated with chlorophyll concentrations but rather with the suspended sediments brought‐in by the Sanaga River. Consequently, our model demonstrated that despite nutrient enrichment, less than 5% of the lake bottom surface sustained submerged aquatic vegetation. Thus, shoreline emergent vegetation is the primary food available for the local manatee population. During the dry season, water recedes drastically and disconnects from the dominant shoreline emergent vegetation, decreasing accessibility for manatees. The current study revealed major environmental concerns (eutrophication and sedimentation) that may negatively impact habitat quality for manatees. The information from the results will be key for the development of the management plan of the lake and its manatee population. Efficient land use and water management across the entire watershed may be necessary to mitigate such issues.

Hoyer, MV, Canfield, DE Jr. 2021. Volunteer-collected water quality data can be used for science and management. Lake Reserv Manage. XX:XXX–XXX. This study addresses concerns that comparison studie...

Canfield DE Jr, Bachmann RW, Hoyer MV. 2020. Restoration of Lake Okeechobee, Florida: mission impossible? Lake Reserv Manage. XX:XXX–XXX. Legally mandated eutrophication restoration goals for Lake ...

Unravelling patterns and mechanisms of biogeographical transitions is crucial if we are to understand compositional gradientsat large spatial extents, but no studies have thus far examined breakpoints in community composition of freshwater plants acrosscontinents. Using a dataset of almost 500 observations of lake plant community composition from six continents, we examined,for the first time, if such breakpoints in geographical space exist for freshwater plants and how well a suite of ecological factors(including climatic and local environmental variables) can explain transitions in community composition from the subtropicsto the poles. Our combination of multivariate regression tree (MRT) analysis and k-means partitioning suggests that the mostabrupt breakpoint exists between temperate to boreal regions on the one hand and freshwater plant communities harbouringmainly subtropical or Mediterranean assemblages on the other. The spatially structured variation in current climatic conditionsis the most likely candidate for controlling these latitudinal patterns, although one cannot rule out joint effects of eco-evolutionary constraints in the harsher high-latitude environments and post-glacial migration lags after Pleistocene Ice Ages. Overall, ourstudy supports the foundations of global regionalisation for freshwater plants and anticipates further biogeographical researchon freshwater plant communities once datasets have been harmonised for conducting large-scale spatial analyses.

The present study aims at investigating the past and current trophic status of Lake Ossa and evaluating its potential impact on African manatee health. Lake Ossa is known as a refuge for the threatened African manatees in Cameroon. Little information exists on the water quality and health of the ecosystem as reflected by its chemical and biological characteristics. Aquatic biotic and abiotic parameters including water clarity, nitrogen, phosphorous, and chlorophyll concentrations were measured monthly during four months at each of 18 water sampling stations evenly distributed across the lake. These parameters were then compared with historical values obtained from the literature to examine the dynamic trophic state of Lake Ossa. Results indicate that Lake Ossa's trophic state parameters doubled in only three decades (from 1985 to 2016), moving from a mesotrophic to a eutrophic state. The decreasing nutrient gradient moving from the mouth of the lake (in the south) to the north indicates that the flow of the adjacent Sanaga River is the primary source of nutrient input. Further analysis suggests that the poor transparency of the lake is not associated with chlorophyll concentrations but rather with the suspended sediments brought‐in by the Sanaga River. Consequently, our model demonstrated that despite nutrient enrichment, less than 5% of the lake bottom surface sustained submerged aquatic vegetation. Thus, shoreline emergent vegetation is the primary food available for the local manatee population. During the dry season, water recedes drastically and disconnects from the dominant shoreline emergent vegetation, decreasing accessibility for manatees. The current study revealed major environmental concerns (eutrophication and sedimentation) that may negatively impact habitat quality for manatees. The information from the results will be key for the development of the management plan of the lake and its manatee population. Efficient land use and water management across the entire watershed may be necessary to mitigate such issues., Little information exists on the water quality and health of the aquatic ecosystem within protected areas in Cameroon. We monitor water quality in Lake Ossa, a refuge for the threatened African manatee, and find considerable eutrophication and poor water transparency. These results suggest that this manatee refuge may currently be of poor habitat quality and is in need of management intervention.

Xiong C, Hoyer MV. Influence of land use and rainfall variability on nutrient concentrations in Florida lakes. Lake Reserv Manage. 35:25–37.This research examined impacts of regional differences (t...

Documenting the patterns of biological diversity on Earth has always been a central challenge in macroecology and biogeography. However, for the diverse group of freshwater plants, such research program is still in its in- fancy. Here, we examined global variation in taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic beta diversity patterns of lake macrophytes using regional data from six continents. A data set of ca. 480 lake macrophyte community ob- servations, together with climatic, geographical and environmental variables, was compiled across 16 regions worldwide. We (a) built the very first phylogeny comprising most freshwater plant lineages; (b) exploited a wide array of functional traits that are important to macrophyte autoecology or that relate to lake ecosystem functioning; (c) assessed if different large-scale beta diversity patterns show a clear latitudinal gradient from the equator to the poles using null models; and (d) employed evolutionary and regression models to first identify the degree to which the studied functional traits show a phylogenetic signal, and then to estimate community- environment relationships at multiple spatial scales. Our results supported the notion that ecological niches evolved independently of phylogeny in macrophyte lineages worldwide. We also showed that taxonomic and phylogenetic beta diversity followed the typical global trend with higher diversity in the tropics. In addition, we were able to confirm that species, multi-trait and lineage compositions were first and foremost structured by climatic conditions at relatively broad spatial scales. Perhaps more importantly, we showed that large-scale processes along latitudinal and elevational gradients have left a strong footprint in the current diversity patterns and community-environment relationships in lake macrophytes. Overall, our results stress the need for an inte- grative approach to macroecology, biogeography and conservation biology, combining multiple diversity facets at different spatial scales. JGG appreciates financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Industry [project METAPONDS, grant CGL2017- 84176R], the Junta de Castilla y León [grant LE004G18] and from the Fundación Biodiversidad (Spanish Ministry for Ecological Transi- tion and Demographic Challenge). BAL was supported by National Research, Development and Innovation Fund [grant NKFIH, OTKA PD120775] and by the Bolyai János Research Scholarship of the Hun- garian Academy of Sciences. S.K. was supported by NWO Veni [grant 86312012]. Sampling of the coastal Brazilian lakes was financed by NWO [grant W84-549]; The National Geographic Society [grant 7864-5]; and CNPq [grants 480122, 490409, 311427]. We thank the SALGA team, especially Gissell Lacerot, Nestor Mazzeo, Vera Huszar, David da Motta Marques, and Erik Jeppesen for organizing and exe- cuting the SALGA field sampling campaign and Bruno Irgang† and Eduardo Alonso Paz for helping with identification. We thank Minne- sota and Wisconsin Departments of Natural Resources for collecting the macrophyte data. We are grateful to Carol Reschke for her work in combining and performing quality control for the Minnesota mac- rophyte data used in the analysis. This is contribution no. 607 of the Natural Resources Research Inst. of the Univ. of Minnesota Duluth. Provision of New Zealand macrophyte data was possible via NIWA SSIF funding. JGG appreciates financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Industry [project METAPONDS, grant CGL2017- 84176R], the Junta de Castilla y León [grant LE004G18] and from the Fundación Biodiversidad (Spanish Ministry for Ecological Transi- tion and Demographic Challenge). BAL was supported by National Research, Development and Innovation Fund [grant NKFIH, OTKA PD120775] and by the Bolyai János Research Scholarship of the Hun- garian Academy of Sciences. S.K. was supported by NWO Veni [grant 86312012]. Sampling of the coastal Brazilian lakes was financed by NWO [grant W84-549]; The National Geographic Society [grant 7864-5]; and CNPq [grants 480122, 490409, 311427]. We thank the SALGA team, especially Gissell Lacerot, Nestor Mazzeo, Vera Huszar, David da Motta Marques, and Erik Jeppesen for organizing and exe- cuting the SALGA field sampling campaign and Bruno Irgang† and Eduardo Alonso Paz for helping with identification. We thank Minne- sota and Wisconsin Departments of Natural Resources for collecting the macrophyte data. We are grateful to Carol Reschke for her work in combining and performing quality control for the Minnesota mac- rophyte data used in the analysis. This is contribution no. 607 of the Natural Resources Research Inst. of the Univ. of Minnesota Duluth. Provision of New Zealand macrophyte data was possible via NIWA SSIF funding.

Rapid climate changes may potentially have strong impacts on the ecosystem structure and nutrient dynamics of lakes as well as implications for water quality. We used a space-for-time approach to elucidate such possible effects by comparing data from 1656 shallow lakes (mean depth −1. Physicochemical variables showed significant seasonal differences, which can be attributed to different sunlight regimes and temperatures. The FL lakes had overall higher fish biomasses (notably in the littoral zone) but a substantially lower zooplankton biomass and body mass of microcrustaceans, a much lower zooplankton:phytoplankton biomass ratio (lower grazing on phytoplankton), and a markedly lower biomass of benthic invertebrates, indicating much greater control of consumers by fish in the FL lakes. Accordingly, the summer phytoplankton biomass was higher in the FL lakes. Cyanobacteria in summer were proportionally more important in the FL lakes at all TP levels, whereas the proportion of dinophytes, chrysophytes, and cryptophytes was higher in the DK lakes at low TP. Submerged macrophytes occurred at higher TP (>100 µg L−1) in the FL lakes, but coverage was higher in the DK lakes at low TP. We also found lower oxygen saturation in the nutrient-rich FL lakes than in the DK lakes, suggesting lower net ecosystem production in the FL lakes. We discuss our results within the framework of climate warming.

Documenting the patterns of biological diversity on Earth has always been a central challenge in macroecology and biogeography. However, we are only beginning to generate an understanding of the global patterns and determinants of macrophyte diversity. Here, we studied large-scale variation and community-environment relationships of lake macrophytes along climatic and geographical gradients using regional data from six continents. We applied statistical routines typically used in the context of metacommunity studies to provide novel insights into macrophyte community compositional patterns within regions worldwide. We found that lake macrophyte metacommunities followed clumped species replacement structures, suggesting that two or more species groups were responding similarly to the environment within regions. Underlying such general convergence, our results also provided evidence that community-environment relationships were largely context-dependent, stressing that no single mechanism is enough to account for the complex nature of compositional variation. Surprisingly, we found no general relationships between functional or phylogenetic composition and main metacommunity types, suggesting that linking multi-trait and evolutionary information to the elements of metacommunity structure is not straightforward. Our findings highlight that global conservation initiatives and biodiversity protection need to capture environmental variation at the metacommunity level, and acknowledge the highly context-dependent patterns in the community-environment relationships of lake macrophytes. Overall, we emphasize the need to embrace the potential complexity of ecological inferences in metacommunity organization across the globe.

Canfield DE Jr, Hoyer MV, Bachmann RW, Bigham Stevens D, Ruiz-Bernard I. 2016. Water quality changes at an Outstanding Florida Water: influence of stochastic events and climate variability. Lake Reserv Manage. 32:297–313.The Santa Fe Lake System (SFS) is an Outstanding Florida Water system in northern peninsular Florida and receives special protection from governmental agencies to prevent impairment of water quality from anthropogenic activities. Since 1986, periods of sudden nutrient increases and declines have occurred along with changes in water clarity documented within a 28-year monthly database. Changes were linked to stochastic events such as an influx of gulls in 1986, the adjacent 5100-ha Dairy Road forest fire in 2007, 3 Category 3 hurricanes that struck Florida in 2004, and droughts. However, increasing trends at SFS were also observed for the yearly measured minimum water chemistry values, as were synchronous changes in these baseline conditions at other nearby lakes, suggesting the la...

Canfield DE, Jr., Bachmann RW, Hoyer MV, Johansson LS, Søndergaard M, and Jeppesen E. 2018. To measure chlorophyl or phytoplankton biovolume: an aquatic conundrum with implications for the management of lakes. Lake Reserv Manage. 35:181–192. The log10-transformed relationship between measured phytoplankton biovolumes and chlorophyll concentrations, surrogates for algal biomass, was examined using 13,000-plus paired samples collected from lakes in Denmark (250), the continental United States (1835), and Florida (159). A positive (R2 = 0.57) relationship was found but predicted biovolumes had a 95% confidence interval of 11–912%. Regressing chlorophyll as opposed to phytoplankton biovolume against total phosphorus (TP) (R2 = 0.43 vs. R2 = 0.21), total nitrogen (TN) (R2 = 0.24 vs. R2 = 0.08), and Secchi disk (SD) (R2 = 0.60 vs. R2 = 0.39) yielded stronger relationships. Three algal groups (Cyanophyta, Chlorophyta, and Bacillariophyceae) contributed approximately 100% of the biovolume in some samples. For these groups and samples, biovolume increased significantly with chlorophyll (R2 = 0.35, R2 = 0.27, and R2 = 0.31, respectively) and TP (R2 = 0.18, R2 = 0.13, and R2 = 0.13) and decreased significantly with increases in SD (R2 = 0.29, R2 = 0.31, and R2 = 0.17). All empirical relationships had substantial confidence intervals. Contingency tables for variance within the independent (horizontal variance) and dependent (vertical variance) variables are presented, providing managers information on how much change is required to insure noticeable effects. If resources are limited, chlorophyll is recommended for monitoring long-term trends because it provides an estimate of biomass magnitude and has better relationships with nutrients and SD. Managers may integrate occasional biovolume measurements if concerned with Cyanophyta abundance, taste and odor production, or changing algal population dynamics.

Using data collected with 3 different methods, we found no decreases in the average water clarity of Maine (USA) lakes over different periods of time. Field measurements of Secchi disk depths in the summer months by volunteer samplers in several hundred lakes showed a small, statistically significant increase in water transparency during the period 1976 through 2013. A reanalysis of satellite-inferred Secchi depths between 1990 and 2010 showed no trend over time. In addition, diatom-inferred Secchi depths from short sediment cores in a randomly selected group of Maine lakes analyzed by the US Environmental Protection Agency showed no statistically significant difference between the average Secchi depths in a pre-1850 time period and the early 1990s. Lake maximum depth was the most important morphological variable associated with water clarity among Maine lakes. In individual lakes, both water color and chlorophyll were inversely correlated with Secchi disk depths. The statewide annual average Secchi depths for the summer months were inversely correlated with water color and the amount of precipitation for the months of January through June. Drought years led to increased Secchi depths.

Summary The performance of species richness estimators can be highly variable. Evaluating the accuracy and precision of different estimators for different assemblages is common in the ecological literature, but estimator performance is rarely measured in terms of research goals such as detecting patterns in diversity. We evaluated the efficacy of nonparametric richness estimators to detect changes (i.e. type-I and type-II error rates) in species richness using two experimental designs: a block design and a trend analysis. We also evaluated estimator efficacy across a variety of species-abundance distributions, species number and sample sizes. The evaluation was performed using simulated data that mimicked the qualities of real data to ensure real-world relevance. We found that the bias and precision of all estimators evaluated had high sensitivity to sample size and shifts in the species-abundance distribution. Importantly, all estimators demonstrated elevated type-I error rates when the species-abundance distribution varied. These inflated type-I error rates resulted in spurious conclusions about patterns in species richness. Results suggest that caution should be taken when using nonparametric estimators to detect pattern in species richness. Furthermore, estimator evaluations should always include measures of type-I and type-II error rates. These quantities can reveal the inference consequences of the dependency of estimator bias and precision on community and sampling characteristics.

Este artículo contiene 16 páginas, 3 tablas, 2 figuras., We studied community–environment relationships of lake macrophytes at two metacommunity scales using data from 16 regions across the world. More specifically, we examined (a) whether the lake macrophyte communities respond similar to key local environmental factors, major climate variables and lake spatial locations in each of the regions (i.e., within-region approach) and (b) how well can explained variability in the community–environment relationships across multiple lake macrophyte metacommunities be accounted for by elevation range, spatial extent, latitude, longitude, and age of the oldest lake within each metacommunity (i.e., across-region approach). In the within-region approach, we employed partial redundancy analyses together with variation partitioning to investigate the relative importance of local variables, climate variables, and spatial location on lake macrophytes among the study regions. In the across-region approach, we used adjusted R2 values of the variation partitioning to model the community–environment relationships across multiple metacommunities using linear regression and commonality analysis. We found that niche filtering related to local lake-level environmental conditions was the dominant force structuring macrophytes within metacommunities. However, our results also revealed that elevation range associated with climate (increasing temperature amplitude affecting macrophytes) and spatial location (likely due to dispersal limitation) was important for macrophytes based on the findings of the across-metacommunities analysis. These findings suggest that different determinants influence macrophyte metacommunities within different regions, thus showing context dependency. Moreover, our study emphasized that the use of a single metacommunity scale gives incomplete information on the environmental features explaining variation in macrophyte communities., Open access funding provided by University of Oulu including Oulu University Hospital. JA appreciates financial support from the Ella and Georg Ehrnrooth Foundation. BAL was supported by National Research, Development and Innovation Office—NKFIH, OTKA PD120775 Grant and by the Bolyai János Research Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. S.K. was supported by NWO Veni grant 86312012. Sampling of the coastal Brazilian lakes was financed by NWO grant W84-549; The National Geographic Society grant 7864-5; and CNPq grants 480122, 490409, 311427.

Individual Secchi disk measurements (975,760) were gathered from across the United States to understand regional distribution in water transparency. Compiled Secchi disk measurements represented 14,421 US waterbodies. Average water transparency ranged from 3.5 m) were in Alaska, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, and Vermont. Regional differences in water transparency were identified across the US Environmental Protection Agency ecoregions (Level III), with lower water transparencies occurring in nutrient-rich regions and higher water transparencies occurring in nutrient-poor regions. Reg...

Muck: what it is, how it's distributed in water bodies, how to remove it. Plus the ontogeny of aquatic systems.

Stocking of largemouth bass is an important management tool for fish management. The stocking of hatchery-produced fingerling or advanced-fingerling bass to supplement bass year-classes, however, has exhibited varying success. Utilizing a different approach, a multiyear stocking programme using wild adult largemouth bass was initiated at the Harris Chain of Lakes (3800 ha Lake Griffin; 1811 ha Lake Dora) in central Florida. Wild adult bass (24 781 fish), ranging in size from 200 mm total length (TL) to over 600 mm TL, were stocked in Lake Griffin (13 932 fish) and Lake Dora (10 849 fish). One month after stocking, the number of stocked bass caught in electrofishing catches in Lake Griffin and Lake Dora was ~10% and 22%, respectively. Estimates of mortality were similar to the native largemouth bass, although the movement of stocked fish into other connecting water bodies was extensive. For the Lake Griffin/Lake Dora stocking programme, bass were transferred at a cost of $10.09–19.89 per fish, depending on how the costs of the project are calculated ($250 000 for just the capture and transport of the fish vs. $492 775 for the total project). Considering only capture and transport costs, conservative benefit/cost ratio estimates would be $1.77/$1.00 spent for replacement and $1.85/$1.00 spent recreational costs, although the benefit/cost ratios could exceed $10/$1. Based on the present study, stocking wild adult largemouth bass is a cost-effective tool for managing largemouth bass.

We found that the Florida Lake Vegetation Index (LVI) did not identify Florida lakes that were impaired due to excess loading of phosphorus or nitrogen from anthropogenic sources. The index is based on 4 plant metrics: the Coefficient of Conservatism of the dominant or co-dominant taxa, the percent of sensitive taxa, the percent of native taxa, and the percent of invasive exotic taxa. Our analysis of the data used by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to establish and calibrate this biotic index found no link between nutrient concentrations and the LVI. The LVI was primarily associated with the pH and specific conductance of the lake waters, with the best scores found in acidic lakes and the poorest scores in more alkaline lakes. These variables are the result of natural gradients, not pollution, and are not included in the calculation of the LVI. Our study illustrates the importance of considering natural factors that determine the value of any index of biological integrity before it is used to indicate anthropogenic pollution.

We used paleolimnological data for 240 lakes from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (USEPA) 2007 National Lakes Assessment to estimate the extent that natural lakes in the coterminous United States have been changed by anthropogenic activities. In order to detect cultural eutrophication, we analyzed data on diatominferred concentrations of total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), specific conductance (SC), and pH as determined from lake sediments from the tops and bottoms of sediment cores from 240 natural lakes where the bottom of the core was judged to represent conditions prior to European settlement. We found no statistically significant increases in the average concentrations of TN, while TP decreased by 14% in this population of lakes since the time of European settlement. We also analyzed data from 48 reference lakes used by the USEPA to determine the relative condition of the sample lakes. Paired t-tests showed the TN concentrations were not significantly different between the two time periods (p . 5%), while the average TP concentrations had significantly decreased by 26% since presettlement times (p , 5%). There were statistically significant increases in SC (17%) and pH (0.05 pH units). There were no statistically significant differences between the changes in TP, TN, SC, and pH in the 240 sample lakes and the changes in the 48 reference lakes. The proportions of lakes categorized as oligotrophic, mesotrophic, eutrophic, and hypereutrophic for the presettlement time period were not significantly different from the proportions found in 2007. There are many documented cases of individual lakes in the United States (such as Lake Erie and Lake Washington) that have changed in the past due to anthropogenic increases in loads of total phosphorus (TP) and/or total nitrogen (TN). Point sources such as wastewater treatment plants have been the major sources of accelerated eutrophication; however, following recent pollution control efforts, these sources have been controlled, and focus has been placed on nonpoint sources (National Research Council 1992) that are not as easily evaluated. For this reason, there have been few scientific estimates of the extent of changes in the chemical characteristics of natural lakes in the United States. For regulatory purposes, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) suggests that the nutrient concentrations of 75% of U.S. lakes are above their natural levels. For lakes with no or little development in their watersheds (reference lakes), they consider 25% of these lakes to have levels of TP and TN that have been elevated above their natural concentrations. We wished to test this hypothesis. The objective of this study is to use newly available data from the National Lakes Assessment (USEPA 2010a) to estimate the extent that natural lakes in the United States have been changed by anthropogenic activities. Methods

Este artículo contiene 14 páginas, 3 tablas, 3 figuras., Aim: We studied global variation in beta diversity patterns of lake macrophytes using regional data from across the world. Specifically, we examined (1) how beta diversity of aquatic macrophytes is partitioned between species turnover and nestedness within each study region, and (2) which environmental characteristics structure variation in these beta diversity components. Location: Global. Methods: We used presence–absence data for aquatic macrophytes from 21 regions distributed around the world. We calculated pairwise-site and multiple-site beta diversity among lakes within each region using Sørensen dissimilarity index and partitioned it into turnover and nestedness coefficients. Beta regression was used to correlate the diversity coefficients with regional environmental characteristics. Results Aquatic macrophytes showed different levels of beta diversity within each of the 21 study regions, with species turnover typically accounting for the majority of beta diversity, especially in high-diversity regions. However, nestedness contributed 30–50% of total variation in macrophyte beta diversity in low-diversity regions. The most important environmental factor explaining the three beta diversity coefficients (total, species turnover and nestedness) was elevation range, followed by relative areal extent of freshwater, latitude and water alkalinity range. Main conclusions: Our findings show that global patterns in beta diversity of lake macrophytes are caused by species turnover rather than by nestedness. These patterns in beta diversity were driven by natural environmental heterogeneity, notably variability in elevation range (also related to temperature variation) among regions. In addition, a greater range in alkalinity within a region, likely amplified by human activities, was also correlated with increased macrophyte beta diversity. These findings suggest that efforts to conserve aquatic macrophyte diversity should primarily focus on regions with large numbers of lakes that exhibit broad environmental gradients., The gathering of the Finnish data was partly supported by Biological Monitoring of Finnish Freshwaters under diffuse loading -project (XPR3304) financed by Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and partly by national surveillance monitoring programs of lakes. S.H. and M.M. were supported by the EU-funded MARS-project (7th EU Framework Programme, Contract No.: 603378).Swedish macrophyte data were collected within the Swedish Monitoring Program of macrophytes in lakes funded by the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management. S.K. was supported by NWO Veni grant 86312012. Macrophyte data from Brazilian Amazon were collected within a limnological monitoring program funded by Vale S.A. The vast majority of macrophyte data from Polish lakes were collected within the State Environmental Monitoring Programme and were provided by the Inspection for Environmental Protection. Macrophyte data for British lakes were collated by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee from surveys resourced by the national conservation agencies. Swiss macrophytes data were collected during a study financially supported by the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment. Wisconsin data collection was funded by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and supported by the Wisconsin Cooperative Fishery Research Unit. The Norwegian macrophyte data were collected within the European Union project ‘LAKES – Long distance dispersal of Aquatic Key Species’, contract no. env4-ct-97-0585.

A probabilistic sample of lakes in the 48 coterminous US lakes was made by the United States Environmental Protection Agency in the 2007 National Lakes Assessment. Because of the statistical design, the results of our analyses of Secchi depths (SD) apply to a population of 45,265 lakes. We found statistically significant differences in mean Secchi depths between natural (1.57 m) and man-made lakes (1.18 m). The most important variable correlated with SD was turbidity, an optical measure related to suspended particles in the water column. For most lakes, chlorophyll a was highly correlated with both turbidity and SD, but several lakes had more turbidity and lower SD than expected based on chlorophyll a alone, indicating that non-algal suspended solids were an important factor. On an ecoregion basis, the non-algal suspended solids in the lake waters were related to the average levels of suspended solids in streams located in that ecoregion, and the non-algal suspended solids were more important in man-made than natural lakes. Phosphorus and nitrogen were directly correlated with chlorophyll a and turbidity and inversely correlated with SD. Based on diatom-inferred Secchi depths for the tops and bottoms of sediment cores from lakes in Ecoregions VIII and VII (excluding lakes in Minnesota) representing 40% of the natural lakes in the US, there has been no decrease in water transparency in that population of lakes in the past 70 or more years when the US population increased by 134%. We do not have information to determine if the other 60% of lakes have or have not changed.

Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) professional biologists and Florida LAKEWATCH volunteers sampled 27 Florida lakes simultaneously to measure the concentrations of total phosphorus, total nitrogen, and chlorophyll. Each program used their Standard Operating Procedures for both field and laboratory activities to determine data comparability. Results showed that LAKEWATCH data were nearly equivalent to FDEP's, which were collected using stringent quality assurance (QA) protocols and analyzed in a National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Conference (NELAC)-certified laboratory in compliance with the state's QA rule. The R2 values for paired comparisons of total phosphorus, total nitrogen, and chlorophyll were 0.97, 0.90, and 0.97, respectively, indicating functionally equal values between programs. Properly trained volunteers should be viewed as partners, and volunteer monitoring can be embraced as a robust tool for obtaining credible, cost-effective data. Studies like thi...

Bachmann RW, Bigham DL, Hoyer MV, Canfield DE Jr. 2012. Phosphorus, nitrogen, and the designated uses of Florida lakes. Lake Reserv Manage. 28:46–58. We reviewed published information on the biology of Florida lakes to determine what concentrations of total phosphorus (TP) and total nitrogen (TN) might impair their designated uses. For the designated use of swimming, lake users preferred oligotrophic to mesotrophic lakes. Eutrophic lakes in Florida generally support their designated use of the propagation and maintenance of a healthy, well-balanced population of fish and wildlife. Fish standing crops in Florida lakes increased as the concentrations of TP increased from 1 to 1000 µg/L. Florida lakes did not show the kind of changes in fish species with trophic state as might be found in northern lakes. Populations of aquatic birds and alligators also increased with increases in trophic state. Benthic macroinvertebrate indices of lake condition were not related to anthropogenic nutrient pollution when estimated by the Landscape Development Intensity index. We found no evidence that the concentrations of TP and TN in the water were responsible for excessive populations of aquatic macrophytes. A study of open-water concentrations of the cyanobacterial toxin microcystin in 187 Florida lakes found only 3 individual water samples collected from 2 lakes exceeded the World Health Organization guidance level of 20 µg/L for swimming, although high levels of microcystin can sometimes be found in some lakes in surface accumulations of cyanobacteria.

Using data from 1387 lakes collected over 3 decades, we found a wide range in the concentrations of total phosphorus (TP), total nitrogen (TN) and chlorophyll (Chl-a) in Florida lakes, and that edaphic factors as outlined by the United States Environmental Protection Agency's Florida Lake Regions were dominant in determining the concentrations of plant nutrients in the state's lakes. The hypothesis that the majority of the eutrophic lakes in Florida without known point source pollution are the result of nonpoint source nutrient pollution was tested in several ways and rejected. There was no correlation between the Landscape Development Intensity index and the concentrations of TP, TN, and Chl-a examined in Florida lakes. Several of Florida's 30 benchmark lakes (lakes with minimal human impact and meeting designated uses) were eutrophic, and there was no significant difference between the mean concentrations of TP and TN in these lakes versus all remaining Florida lakes. Paleolimnological studies ...

We used our knowledge of the factors that determine the nutrient concentrations in Florida lakes to develop a strategy for establishing numeric nutrient criteria for lakes in the State of Florida. Based on previous findings that natural factors were most important in determining the current nutrient concentrations in Florida lakes, we used current distributions of nutrients as a basis for setting criteria. We started with the US Environmental Protection Agency's Florida Lake Regions and grouped similar regions into 6 total phosphorus (TP) zones and 5 total nitrogen (TN) zones that were used to set numeric nutrient criteria for each zone. We propose criteria that will identify the lakes in each zone with the highest concentrations of TP and TN for subsequent investigation to determine the degree anthropogenic sources or natural backgrounds are responsible for their trophic status. To provide special protection to Florida's oligotrophic lakes, site-specific criteria are proposed, with oligotrophic ...

This study tested the hypothesis that lake augmentation with well water impacts the distribution and abundance of aquatic plants in lakes. Water chemistry was measured from 14 wells, 14 augmented lakes, and 14 lakes without augmentation. Nine in-lake aquatic macrophyte abundance and species distribution metrics were measured in all lakes. Net photosynthetic rate (NPR) of nine submersed species was also measured in well and lake water. Augmentation increased alkalinity in receiving lakes, but total phosphorus was significantly lower, which resulted in lower chlorophyll and greater Secchi depths. Although measured NPR was higher for all plants incubated in well water, only one (emergent species richness) in-lake aquatic macrophyte metric was different in lakes with and without augmentation. Lake augmentation significantly changed water chemistry of receiving waters, but effects on aquatic macrophytes were minimal, suggesting that other environmental factors are limiting the distribution and abundance of macrophytes in the study lakes. The lower phosphorus levels in augmented lakes were unexpected because phosphorus concentrations in well water were significantly greater than in lakes with or without augmentation. Precipitation of calcium phosphate likely accounts for the reduced phosphorus levels in augmented lakes.

Electrofishing was used in 30 Florida lakes to monitor fish communities over an 8-year period. Six 10-minute electrofishing transects were used annually per lake to estimate the catch per unit effort (CPUE, gm/hr) total fish, sport fish, and each individual fish species. A variance components analysis using CPUE as the dependent variable and lake, year within lake, and transect within year and lake as independent variables showed that in almost every case transect accounted for more than 50% of the variance in CPUE. The estimated variance from this sampling effort showed that the average number of electrofishing transects needed to estimate total fish and sport fish CPUE within 20% of the mean at a confidence of 95% would have to double and triple current effort, respectively. Lake trophic status, estimated with chlorophyll concentrations, was also monitored and showed a direct positive relation with total fish and sport fish, even with low sampling effort, providing a general ability to estimate...

7 páginas, 2 figuras, 3 tablas., The concentration of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in groundwater emanating as spring discharge at several locations in Florida, USA and the net increase in DOC in the downstream receiving waters were measured as part of a larger investigation of carbon dynamics in flowing waters. Springs with high discharge (>2.8 m3 s−1) were found to be the most organic-poor natural waters yet reported (13 ± 1.6 μmol C L−1), while springs with lesser discharge exhibited somewhat higher DOC concentrations (values ranging from 30 to 77 μmol C L−1). DOC concentrations increased rapidly downstream from the point of spring discharge, with the calculated net areal input rate of DOC ranging from 0.04 to 1.64 mol C m−2 d−1 across springs. Rates of DOC increase were generally greater in those springs with high discharge rates. These input rates compare favorably with values reported for gross primary production in these macrophyte-dominated spring systems, assuming that 17% of macrophyte primary production is lost, on average, as DOC. The measures reported here are possible only because of the remarkably low DOC levels in the up-surging groundwaters and the short residency times of the water in the spring-runs themselves., Esta investigación ha sido financiada mediante subvenciones del Carl S. Swisher Endowment for Water Resources y Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

A survey of microcystin in 187 Florida lakes was completed from Jan to Dec 2006. Annual average microcystin concentrations of the 187 Florida lakes ranged from nondetectable (< 0.1 μ g/L) to 12 μ g/L, with concentrations in individual water samples (N = 862) ranging from nondetectable to 32 μ g/L. Only 7% of all the individual samples exceeded the World Health Organization (WHO) drinking guidance value of 1 μ g/L. Three individual water samples collected from two lakes (0.3%) exceeded the WHO recreational guidance value of 20 μ g/L. Using chlorophyll concentrations and Secchi depth measurements, tables were constructed to predict the probability that microcystin concentrations exceeded the WHO guidance values in Florida lakes. Additionally, six hypereutrophic lakes (Harris Chain of Lakes, Lake County, FL) were studied from Sep 2006 to Aug 2007 and 40% of the samples exceeded 1 μ g/L but none exceeded 20 μ g/L. This study also provides baseline information and relations between trophic status, sea...

We examined data on CO2 and related limnological and geographic information from a sample of 948 Florida freshwater lakes. The objectives for this study were (1) to determine the partial pressures of carbon dioxide (ρCO2) in the surface waters of a large sample of Florida lakes, (2) to determine if several limnological or geographic factors are related to levels of ρCO2 in Florida lakes, and (3) to estimate the net annual rate of loss of CO2 to the atmosphere from the freshwater lakes of Florida. The calculated ρCO2 for the lakes in our sample range from 0 to 81,000 μatm, with a mean of 3,550 μatm, a median of 1,030 μatm, and a geometric mean of 1,270 μatm. About 87% of the Florida lakes were supersaturated with CO2. There were statistically significant correlations between values for ρCO2 and several water chemistry variables; however, the R 2 values were small and accounted for only a small portion of the variance. In general the ρCO2 values were higher in the lakes with low alkalinities and low contents of dissolved salts. The best predictor of ρCO2 is pH, with an R 2 of 0.82 for a polynomial relationship. The ρCO2 values tend to decrease from northwest to southeast across the state of Florida, which corresponds to the gradients we found for pH, alkalinity, and specific conductance. The average areal rate of carbon emission from the Florida lakes was 328 g C m−2 y−1, and the total carbon loss for the lakes and ponds of Florida was 2.0 Tg y−1. This amounts to about 2% of the total carbon emissions from all the lakes of the world as estimated by previous studies.

The invasion of hydrilla into North American lakes has provoked concern over loss of native flora and fauna and resulted in costly suppression efforts. We used two data sets to determine if common measures of ecosystem health; abundance, species richness, diversity and evenness, were affected by the presence of hydrilla. Data Set 1 consisted of 27 Florida lakes, 11 of which had hydrilla present for approximately 4–8 years in varying abundances, and 16 did not have hydrilla. Given the number of lakes, each was sampled only once in the summers of 1986–1990 for community measures of aquatic plants, birds, and fish. Data Set 2 consisted of 12 lakes, six with abundant hydrilla for over 23 years and six without hydrilla. These lakes were sampled every year in the summer (with a few exceptions due to weather conditions) between 1999 and 2006 for community measures of aquatic plants and fish. The results for both data sets show that presence of hydrilla had no statistically significant effect (P > 0.05) ...

Hoyer, M.V., R.W. Bachmann and D.E. Canfield, Jr. 2008. Lake management (muck removal) and hurricane impacts to the trophic state of Lake Tohopekaliga, Florida. Lake Reserv. Manage. 24:57–68. Lake Tohopekaliga is a large (surface area 9,800 ha) and shallow (mean depth 2.1 m) natural lake in central Florida. Cultural eutrophication and lake water level stabilization led to accelerated growth of invasive native and non-native aquatic macrophytes, resulting in the buildup of thick deposits of organic matter along the shoreline. Those shoreline areas were often devoid of oxygen, and the muck buildup filled feeding grounds for wading birds and spawning fish. Muck build up has also reduced aesthetics and boat access. To remove organic accumulation, the lake water level was dropped and heavy equipment was used to scrape the plants and dead organic materials from the underlying sand substrates from more than 1,420 ha of the littoral zone. Most of this material was heaped into large piles in shallow parts of the lake to form 29 artificial islands with basal areas from 0.4 to 3.3 ha each. Our study was designed to determine: (1) amount of nutrients stored in islands relative to annual inflows, (2) nutrient release to the lake from the islands, and (3) changes in lake trophic state due to the muck scraping and construction of the islands. The lake enhancement project was completed in late summer 2004, and the average thickness of organic materials in the scrapped areas was reduced from 46 cm to 1.6 cm, improving access and aesthetics tremendously. The islands stored several times the annual inflow of total phosphorus (TP, 3.1 times) and Total Nitrogen (TN, 6.5 times) and thus could potentially affect the lake’s trophic state by leaching nutrients. Our study of water quality in the vicinity of the islands indicates that the islands had no statistically significant impact on the water chemistry of the lake through leaching of nutrients. In the 2 years following the muck removal, substantial increases in average TP (39%), chlorophyll (56%), and color (53%) and a decline in dissolved oxygen (−10%) were found in open water stations. An unintended complication to our experimental design was the occurrence of 3 major hurricanes with high winds and heavy rainfalls that passed over the Lake Tohopekaliga area immediately following the muck removal project. To account for the effects of hurricane activity we examined monthly TP, TN, chlorophyll, Secchi depth data, and quarterly color values measured for 55 relatively small (median surface area 33 ha), nearby lakes. Our sample of 55 nearby lakes showed significant increases in TP (8.2%), TN (4.1%), chlorophyll (20.1%), and water color (23.8%), and decreases in Secchi depth (−8.2%) coinciding with the passage of the hurricanes. Additionally, data from a larger control lake (Kissimmee, surface area 19,800 ha) located 10 km south of Lake Tohopekaliga showed a much larger increase in total phosphorus (66%). Therefore, some or possibly all of the differences we measured before and after scraping could have been the result of low quality water (high nutrients and organic color) flushed into the lake following the heavy rains (93 cm in August and September of 2004) accompanying the storms. The effects of muck removal cannot be completely separated from those of hurricanes because they both occurred at the same time. However, aquatic plant (Florida Department of Environmental Protection) and water chemistry (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission) data collected after this project was completed show that submersed aquatic macrophytes in Lake Tohopekaliga have returned and total phosphorus and chlorophyll concentrations are down to levels measured prior to muck scraping and hurricane impacts. Thus, the changes in water chemistry caused by muck removal and/or the hurricanes were relatively short lived (approximately 2 years).

In 32 Florida lakes, Secchi depth (SD), light attenuation coefficient measured with a light meter, plant and sediment type, and slope were examined with respect to the maximum depth of plant colonization (MDC). The MDC was shown to be significantly related to light through measurements taken by SD (R2 = 0.46; p < 0.05) and a light meter (R2 = 0.41; p < 0.05). While both light measurements can be used to estimate MDC, SD accounted for more variance in MDC than light attenuation coefficients. Plant type, sediment type and slope did not account for more variance in MDC than light measurements for these Florida lakes. Additional unpublished data from 187 Florida Lakes (Florida LAKEWATCH, 279 lake-years of data) also showed a significant positive relationship between SD and MDC (R2 = 0.68; p < 0.05). The best fit MDC-SD regression line in meters was: log (MDC) = 0.66 log (SD) + 0.31. A maximum MDC line relating MDC to SD in meters was also calculated and was found to be equal to: log (max MDC) = 0.53 ...

We found the conclusion of SCHELSKE et al. (2003, Arch. Hydrobiol. 157:145-172) that Lake Apopka was not net heterotrophic was incorrect when annual rates of production and respiration for the entire lake ecosystem are taken into consideration. A new carbon budget for the water and sediments showed for the period of study the sum of the annual sources of organic carbon including primary production and inflows (765 g C m -2 yr -1 ) was less than the sum of the annual losses including respiration in the water and sediments and outflows (2497 g C m -2 yr -1 ). Diel oxygen curves demonstrated that it is possible to have oxygen supersaturation at the surface near midday and still have net heterotrophy over 24-h.

The degree of bacterial contamination of 99 Florida lakes was studied using total coliform and Escherichia coli (E. coli) counts as indicators. Over 75% of the 4055 samples analyzed for total colifoms and over 98% analyzed for E. coli were below Florida's state standards for total and fecal coliform bacteria, respectively. Thus, there is little evidence of widespread fecal contamination in the Florida lakes examined during this study. Future bacterial sampling in lake systems should consider the facts that open-water samples had significantly lower total coliform and E. coli counts than littoral samples, and that the variance in bacterial counts is greater among lakes over time than spatially within lakes. Additionally, lake trophic status and aquatic bird abundance were also positively related to both total coliform and E. coli counts, while lake surface area and percent area covered with aquatic macrophytes (PAC) showed no significant relations. The method of waste management around lakes is of...

Florida inland waters are dominated by shallow lakes, many of which support the growth of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV). We examined the species composition and selected environmental variables of SAV-dominated lakes using data from the Florida LAKEWATCH program. Our analysis revealed eight genera with approximately 15 species of SAV among these shallow lakes, which range in size from

Monthly total phosphorus, total nitrogen, and chlorophyll concentrations, Secchi depth, and lake water level data for 84 Florida lakes were used to examine relations between trophic state variables and water level fluctuation. Lake size averaged 566 ha (range 4.0 to 5609 ha), with the period of record for individual lakes averaging 57 months (range 7 to 175 months). Lake level fluctuation for individual lakes averaged 1.3 m (range 0.1 to 3.5 m). The lakes also ranged from oligotrophic to hypereutrophic, with average chlorophyll values for individual lakes ranging from 1 to 97 µg·L–1. No overall relation between trophic state variables and lake level fluctuation could be found among the population of lakes. However, individual lakes showed direct, inverse, or no significant relations between lake trophic state variables and water level fluctuation, regardless of the magnitude of water level fluctuation. These data suggest that predicting how water level fluctuations will impact trophic state variables among a population of lakes will be difficult, if not impossible, and that any accurate predictions will have to be made after first examining several mechanisms within individual lake systems.

Since it switched from a macrophyte-dominated state to a turbid, algal-dominated state in 1947, Lake Apopka has developed a layer of flocculent sediments with characteristics of fluid mud covering most of the lakebed and averaging 47 cm in thickness in 1996. Waves in this large, shallow lake frequently resuspend the upper portion of the fluid mud and frustrate programs designed to decrease the trophic state. We tested two hypotheses for its origin, one that the fluid mud layer represents the buildup of organic materials that had accumulated since 1947, the other that it was derived primarily by the liquefaction of the underlying macrophyte-derived consolidated sediments. We examined (1) changes in the mean depth of the lake relative to changes in fluid mud thickness; (2) 210 Pb dating of the sediments; (3) organic matter budget for the lake; (4) inorganic particle budget for the lake; and (5) chemical markers of sediments produced during the macrophyte stage (biogenic silica from sponges, long-chain n-alkanes from macrophytes, and 13 C) in the fluid mud. The evidence indicates that a major portion of the fluid mud can be attributed to the liquefaction of underlying consolidated sediments that were produced during the macrophyte stage of the lake. It follows that the fluid mud layer is less a direct consequence of eutrophication than a consequence of enhanced wave action on the lakebed following the loss of macrophyte dominance in this lake.