Small and shallow previously unstudied lakes: land-use, overgrowth and eutrophication
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to compare trophic characteristics of the ecosystems of small and shallow lakes with a different character of land-cover in their catchments (as exemplified by several previously unstudied lakes of the Leningrad Region, North-Western Russia, that belong to a single lake-river system).
Design/methodology/approach
The key limnetic parameters of four lakes are analysed. Two of the lakes are located on the territory of allotment gardens, the other two are in the forest-covered areas. A preliminary assessment was made for the production-to-destruction ratio in the ecosystems of the lakes of the study region and their vulnerability factors.
Findings
For the lakes with a largely unexploited catchment, humus of terrigenous origin can act as a “hidden” source of nutrient load (primarily as phosphates). For the lakes with a catchment occupied by allotment gardens, an elevated trophic status and intensive overgrowth by vegetation (floating forms) is driven by an increased nitrogen load.
Practical implications
The results can be used for planning land and water management activities in North-Western Russia and in other world’s regions with similar environmental conditions.
Originality/value
These results can lay a foundation for creating a region-specific model to predict trends in eutrophication and overgrowth of small shallow lakes.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Morphometric characteristics of the study lakes and their catchments were determined by Yiliya Sokolova, a specialist of the “Space and Geoinformation Technologies” Resource Centre of the Saint-Petersburg State University (Initiative Project No. 117-1 supervised by the author), using images provided by ScanEx LLC. The bathymetric survey was conducted by Vladimir Batuev, a Researcher of the Russian State Hydrological Institute (this survey was also assisted by the author and Vladimir Bogdanov, a student of the Saint-Petersburg State Agrarian University). Water colour, permanganate oxidizability and nutrients in the water samples in 2012 and 2013 were measured in a certified ecologo-analytical laboratory of the Non-governmental Institute for Vocational Training in Applied Ecology (IPK). Macrophytes were identified by Dr Liubov Zhakova, a senior Researcher of the Zoological Institute RAS. Assistance in the translation of this paper was provided by Dr Anatoly Petrov, a senior Researcher of the Zoological Institute RAS. The author would like to express the author’s sincere gratitude to all these colleagues and to Vyacheslav Kuchaev, Director of the Resource Centre “Space and Geoinformation Technologies” (Saint-Petersburg State University), and to Professor Vladimir Tsvetkov, Rector of the IPK. The author also brings gratitude to two anonymous reviewers for their detailed consideration and comments to this paper.
Citation
Rizhinashvili, A. (2017), "Small and shallow previously unstudied lakes: land-use, overgrowth and eutrophication", Management of Environmental Quality, Vol. 28 No. 1, pp. 120-136. https://doi.org/10.1108/MEQ-09-2015-0170
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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