Chlorophyll-nutrient relationships of different lake types using a large European dataset

Phillips, G.; Pietilainen, O.-P.; Carvalho, L.; Solimini, A.; Lyche Solheim, A.; Cardoso, A.C.. 2008 Chlorophyll-nutrient relationships of different lake types using a large European dataset. Aquatic Ecology, 42 (2). 213-226. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10452-008-9180-0

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Abstract/Summary

In Europe there is a renewed focus on relationships between chemical determinands and ecological impact as a result of the Water Framework Directive (WFD). In this paper we use regression analysis to examine the relationship of growing season mean chlorophyll a concentration with total phosphorus and total nitrogen using summary data from over 1,000 European lakes. For analysis, lakes were grouped into types with three categories of mean depth, alkalinity and humic content. The lakes were also divided into broad geographic regions covering Atlantic, Northern, Central/Baltic and for some types the Mediterranean areas of Europe. Chlorophyll a was found to be significantly related to both total phosphorus and total nitrogen, although total phosphorus was almost always found to be the best predictor of chlorophyll. Different nutrient chlorophyll relationships were found for lakes according to mean depth and alkalinity, although no significant effect of geographic region or humic content was found for the majority of lake types. We identified three groups of lakes with significantly different responses. Deep lakes had the lowest yield of chlorophyll per unit of nutrient, low and moderate alkalinity shallow lakes the highest and high alkalinity lakes were intermediate. We recommend that the regression models provided for these three lake groups should be used for lake management in Europe and discuss the limitations of such models

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10452-008-9180-0
Programmes:	CEH Programmes pre-2009 publications > Water > WA02 Quantifying processes that link water quality and quantity, biota and physical environment > WA02.3 Physico-chemical processes and effects on freshwater biot CEH Programmes pre-2009 publications > Water > WA03 Developing strategic data and knowledge at a catchment scale to enable the wiser management of the water environment > WA03.3 Catchment scale modelling and assessment CEH Programmes pre-2009 publications > Water
UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:	Watt
ISSN:	1386-2588
Additional Keywords:	Phytoplankton, WFD, Eutrophication, Lakes, Chlorophyll, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Regression model, Water Framework Directive, Lake types
NORA Subject Terms:	Ecology and Environment
Date made live:	29 Jul 2009 09:55 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/5648

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