Humans now strongly influence almost every major aquatic ecosystem, and their activities have dramatically altered the fluxes of growth-limiting nutrients from the landscape to receiving waters. Unfortunately, these nutrient inputs have had profound negative effects upon the quality of surface waters worldwide. This review examines how eutrophication influences the biomass and species composition of algae in both freshwater and costal marine systems. An overview of recent advances in algae-related eutrophication research is presented. In freshwater systems, a summary is presented for lakes and reservoirs; streams and rivers; and wetlands. A brief summary is also presented for estuarine and coastal marine ecosystems. Eutrophication causes predictable increases in the biomass of algae in lakes and reservoirs; streams and rivers; wetlands; and coastal marine ecosystems. As in lakes, the response of suspended algae in large rivers to changes in nutrient loading may be hysteretic in some cases. The inhibitory effects of high concentrations of inorganic suspended solids on algal growth, which can be very evident in many reservoirs receiving high inputs of suspended soils, also potentially may occur in turbid rivers. Consistent and predictable eutrophication-caused increases in cyanobacterial dominance of phytoplankton have been reported worldwide for natural lakes, and similar trends are reported here both for phytoplankton in turbid reservoirs, and for suspended algae in a large river. A remarkable unity is evident in the global response of algal biomass to nitrogen and phosphorus availability in lakes and reservoirs; wetlands; streams and rivers; and coastal marine waters. The species composition of algal communities inhabiting the water column appears to respond similarly to nutrient loading, whether in lakes, reservoirs, or rivers. As is true of freshwater ecosystems, the recent literature suggests that coastal marine ecosystems will respond positively to nutrient loading control efforts. Our understanding of freshwater eutrophication and its effects on algal-related water quality is strong and is advancing rapidly. However, our understanding of the effects of eutrophication on estuarine and coastal marine ecosystems is much more limited, and this gap represents an important future research need. Although coastal systems can be hydrologically complex, the biomass of marine phytoplankton nonetheless appears to respond sensitively and predictably to changes in the external supplies of nitrogen and phosphorus. These responses suggest that efforts to manage nutrient inputs to the seas will result in significant improvements in coastal zone water quality. Additional new efforts should be made to develop models that quantitatively link ecosystem-level responses to nutrient loading in both freshwater and marine systems.

http://globalpnetwork.net/sites/default/files/Smith_2003_ESPR_eutrophication_review.pdf

Eutrophication of freshwater and coastal marine ecosystems a global problem

The sediment plays an important role in the overall nutrient dynamics of shallow lakes. In lakes where the external loading has been reduced, internal phosphorus loading may prevent improvements in lake water quality. At high internal loading, particularly summer concentrations rise, and phosphorus retention can be negative during most of the summer. Internal P loading originates from a pool accumulated in the sediment at high external loading, and significant amounts of phosphorus in lake sediments may be bound to redox-sensitive iron compounds or fixed in more or less labile organic forms. These forms are potentially mobile and may eventually be released to the lake water. Many factors are involved in the release of phosphorus. Particularly the redox sensitive mobilization from the anoxic zone a few millimetres or centimetres below the sediment surface and microbial processes are considered important, but the phosphorus release mechanisms are to a certain extent lake specific. The importance of internal phosphorus loading is highly influenced by the biological structure in the pelagic, and lakes shifting from a turbid to a clearwater state as a result of, for example, biomanipulation may have improved retention considerably. However, internal loading may increase again if the turbid state returns. The recovery period following a phosphorus loading reduction depends on the loading history and the accumulation of phosphorus in the sediment, but in some lakes a negative phosphorus retention continues for decades. Phosphorus can be released from sediment depths as low as 20 cm. The internal loading can be reduced significantly by various restoration methods, such as removal of phosphorus-rich surface layers or by the addition of iron or alum to increase the sediment's sorption capacity.

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Role of sediment and internal loading of phosphorus in shallow lakes

Life history biology sits on the interface between genetics and ecology, and both have made important theoretical and empirical contributions to our understanding. However, the connections between the disciplines have not always been as close as they might have been and this book takes some useful steps towards remedying this. It gives an excellent review of life history theory, and integrates this well with results from the empirical literature. After an 11-page introduction, Roff sets out ‘a framework for analysis’ in which he covers the necessary elements of quantitative and population genetics. This includes clear definitions of fitness in a range of circumstances, from density independent populations in constant environments through to the more complex situations of density and frequency dependence and environments that are spatially or temporally stochastic. Trade-offs are then examined, including a valuable analysis of potential pitfalls in studying them and ways that these can be avoided. The author then deals in turn with evolution in constant environments; stochastic environments and ‘predictable environments’. The last of these covers situations where there is environmental variation, but at least some information is available to allow individuals to make an adaptive response. The final chapter identifies 20 topics for future study. Some will find the book too dominated by theory. Others (but probably not readers of Heredity!) will find it contains too much genetics. But Roff does an excellent job of making the theory accessible, covering the essential issues and pointing to original sources for the details. Theory is related to a significant number of empirical studies, although there is room for another book reviewing the empirical literature on life histories in detail, and Roff’s book would provide a robust skeleton on which to hang this. To make my own assessment, I examined in detail Roff’s discussion of the question of fitness measures for density dependent populations in stochastic environments – an area in which I have been involved. I could not fault him – all the key references were there and the issues were made very clear without the more esoteric mathematics. I also examined some areas that I was less familiar with, and again the text was clear and easy to read. My only real criticism of the book would be that its very long chapters (more than 130 pages in one case) makes it difficult to find things. It would have been simple to address this by including the section headings on the contents pages. A minor personal quibble would be that the book usually expresses problems in terms of the intrinsic rate of increase, r, and the characteristic (Lotka) equation. A matrix formulation is often more tractable and is easier to generalise to density dependent populations and stochastic environments, so expanding on the relationship between the two would have been useful. But overall this is an excellent book. It brings together the key theory in a single place. It gives an invaluable route into the literature, with a bibliography of 1600 or so items. These features, and its identification of topics that need further study should make an important contribution to moving the field forward.

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Life History Evolution

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Treatment Wetlands, Second Edition

While the impacts of high exploitation on fish populations and aquatic ecosystems are well-documented for commercial fishing, particularly in the marine environment, the potential biological impacts of angling received less attention. This paper discusses angling patterns within a framework of basic ecological and evolutionary literature and examines potential biological impacts of angling by focusing on study results associated with high exploitation rates and pronounced selective exploitation. The impacts range from impacts occurring directly on the exploited species (truncation of the natural age and size structure, depensatory mechanisms, loss of genetic variability, evolutionary changes), to those that occur on the aquatic ecosystem (changes in trophic cascades, trait-mediated effects). As a third category, impacts related to the angling activity per se are distinguished (habitat modifications, wildlife disturbance, nutrient inputs, loss of fishing gear). Although the main threats to fish often are l...

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Documented and Potential Biological Impacts of Recreational Fishing: Insights for Management and Conservation

Effects of submerged macrophytes on sediment resuspension and internal phosphorus loading in Lake Hiidenvesi (southern Finland).

A large-scale biomanipulation trial was carried out on Lake Vesijarvi in Finland during 1989-1993. Following the mass removal of coarse fish the biomass of cyanobacteria collapsed from 1.4 g/m -3 to below 0.4 g/ m -3 , while total phosphorus concentration declined from 45 μg/L to 30 μg/L. No relevant changes in zooplankton communities were observed. The results suggest that the success of food web manipulation as a tool for lake restoration is not necessarily dependent on the grazing rate of zooplankton. The effects of reduced fish-mediated internal loading and recycling of nutrients are in many cases stronger than those of reduced planktivory. Alternative stable states of water quality may also exist in lakes not covered by macrophytes, owing to the changes in the behavior of fish stocks. Year-to-year variation in the littoral zone may cause large oscillations in lake ecosystems-for example, through the recruitment of fish. In addition, the nutrients translocated by fish from the littoral zone may affect the nutrient dynamics of the pelagial plankton community. In terms of phytoplankton species composition and the ratio of phosphorus to chlorophyll a, the water quality in Lake Vesijarvi has improved in a stepwise fashion within the last 10 years. This is probably due to the fact that the five-year mass removal of fish in Enonselka fulfilled the requirement of sustained management of fish stocks in order to maintain nonequilibrial conditions between alternate stable states. The prediction of the water quality development is obscured, however, by spatial and temporal within-lake variation, which sets high requirements for sampling programs.

Top-down or Bottom-up Effects by Fish: Issues of Concern in Biomanipulation of Lakes

In the Enonselka and Laitialanselka basins of Lake Vesijarvi, perch Perca fluviatilis and roach Rutilus rutilus were abundant in the littoral and in the pelagic zones throughout the summer In the littoral zone, roach was always more numerous than perch, while perch dominated in the open water Intraspecific diet overlap values were higher than interspecific values In the pelagic zone, perch <155 mm fed mainly on the cladoceran Leptodora kindtii, while small bosminids were most important food items for roach Large perch were piscivorous, feeding mainly on smelt Osmerus eperlanus In the littoral zone small perch foraged on zooplankton and chironomid larvae and large perch on chironomids and fish (small perch) Small roach fed mainly on bosminids and detritus, while for roach <185 mm macrophytes (Elodea Canadensis, Lemna trisulca) were also of importance Detritus was more common in the food of roach in Laitialanselka than in Enonselka The slower growth rate of roach in Laitialanselka compared with Enonselka was probably connected with this However, considering the latitude of the lake, the growth rate of both roach and perch was relatively fast in both basins The results indicated that in a large lake both perch and roach are able to utilize effectively the different habitats and diverse food resources By segregation in food resource utilization they are able to co-exist in large quantities, at the same time maintaining a relatively fast growth rate

Seasonal changes in the diets and relative abundances of perch and roach in the littoral and pelagic zones of a large lake

1. The effects of emergent macrophytes on water turbidity and sediment resuspension in the shallow Kirkkojarvi basin of Lake Hiidenvesi were studied with sediment traps, and concomitant sediment and water samples. The study was conducted during May–August in three different zones of a stand of the emergent Typha angustifolia.



2. Within the stand (5 m from the edge), both the concentration of suspended solids and the rate of sediment resuspension were significantly lower than at the edge and outside the stand (5 m from the edge). The differences between the zones increased towards the end of summer together with the growing stem density. During the study period (82 days), 2210 g dw m−2 of sediment was resuspended in the outer zone. At the edge and in the inner zone, the corresponding numbers were 1414 and 858 g dw m−2, respectively.



3. With the resuspended sediment, 39.4 mg P m−2 day−1 was brought to the water column outside the stand, 22.4 mg P m−2 day−1 at the edge and 13.4 mg P m−2 day−1 within the stand.



4. In early summer, the concentration of suspended solids had a highly significant positive effect on soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) concentration in the water, whereas in late summer no effect was found. During the study period, phosphorus retention by emergent macrophyte stands corresponded to 3–5% of the present annual external phosphorus loading of the Kirkkojarvi basin.

The effect of an emergent macrophyte (Typha angustifolia) on sediment resuspension in a shallow north temperate lake

The effects of floating-leaved, submerged and emergent macrophytes on sediment resuspension and internal phosphorus loading were studied in the shallow Kirkkojarvi basin by placing sedimentation traps among different plant beds and adjacent open water and by sediment and water samples. All the three life forms considerably reduced sediment resuspension compared with non-vegetated areas. Both among submerged (Ceratophyllum demersum, Potamogeton obtusifolius, Ranunculus circinatus) and emergent (Typha angustifolia) plants, resuspension rate was on average 43% of that in the adjacent open water, while within floating-leaved plants (Nuphar lutea) the corresponding value was 87%. The effects of submerged and emergent vegetation increased in the course of the growing season together with increasing plant density. Among floating-leaved vegetation, such seasonal trend in resuspension effects was not observed. Compared with the non-vegetated area, floating-leaved, submerged and emergent plants reduced internal phosphorus loading on average by 21, 12 and 26 mg m−2 d−1, respectively. The effects of floating-leaved plants on resuspension-mediated internal phosphosrus loading were thus comparable to the effects of the other two life forms.

Jukka Horppila

Papers

Effects of submerged macrophytes on sediment resuspension and internal phosphorus loading in Lake Hiidenvesi (southern Finland).

Top-down or Bottom-up Effects by Fish: Issues of Concern in Biomanipulation of Lakes

Seasonal changes in the diets and relative abundances of perch and roach in the littoral and pelagic zones of a large lake

The effect of an emergent macrophyte (Typha angustifolia) on sediment resuspension in a shallow north temperate lake

Effects of different macrophyte growth forms on sediment and P resuspension in a shallow lake