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Water quality of Loch Leven: responses to enrichment, restoration and climate change

Carvalho, L.; Miller, C.; Spears, B.M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0876-0405; Gunn, I.D.M.; Bennion, H.; Kirika, A.; May, L. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3385-9973. 2012 Water quality of Loch Leven: responses to enrichment, restoration and climate change. Hydrobiologia, 681 (1). 35-47. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-011-0923-x

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Abstract/Summary

It is usually assumed that climate change will have negative impacts on water quality and hinder restoration efforts. The long-term monitoring at Loch Leven shows, however, that seasonal changes in temperature and rainfall may have positive and negative impacts on water quality. In response to reductions in external nutrient loading, there have been significant reductions in in-lake phosphorus concentrations. Annual measures of chlorophyll a have, however, shown little response to these reductions. Warmer spring temperatures appear to be having a positive effect on Daphnia densities and this may be the cause of reduced chlorophyll a concentrations in spring and an associated improvement in water clarity in May and June. The clearest climate impact was the negative relationship between summer rainfall and chlorophyll a concentrations. This is highlighted in extreme weather years, with the three wettest summers having very low chlorophyll a concentrations and the driest summers having high concentrations. To predict water quality impacts of future climate change, there is a need for more seasonal predictions from climate models and a greater recognition that water quality is the outcome of seasonal responses in different functional groups of phytoplankton and zooplankton to a range of environmental drivers.

Item Type: Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI): https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-011-0923-x
Programmes: CEH Topics & Objectives 2009 - 2012 > Water > WA Topic 2 - Ecohydrological Processes > WA - 2.3 - Assess the responses of river, lake and wetland ecosystems to ecohydrological drivers
UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas: Watt
ISSN: 0018-8158
Additional Information. Not used in RCUK Gateway to Research.: This document is the author’s final manuscript version of the journal article, incorporating any revisions agreed during the peer review process. Some differences between this and the publisher’s version remain. You are advised to consult the publisher’s version if you wish to cite from this article. The final publication is available at link.springer.com
Additional Keywords: lake recovery, chlorophyll a, phosphorus, nitrogen, temperature, rainfall, Daphnia
NORA Subject Terms: Ecology and Environment
Date made live: 21 Dec 2011 14:11 +0 (UTC)
URI: https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/15914

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