Phytoplankton indicator taxa for reference conditions in lowland Northern and Central European lakes

Phytoplankton data from 606 lakes was used to characterise indicator taxa of near pristine reference conditions in clearwater and humic lowland lakes in Northern and Central Europe. Reference lakes were selected based on low pressure from catchment land-use, low population density and absence of point sources. Reference lakes had low phytoplankton biomass and taxa richness compared to non-reference lakes. In the North European low alkalinitry lakes the reference communities had high biomass proportions of chrysophytes and low proportions of cyanobacteria; in the Central European high alkalinity lakes the biomass was distributed more evenly among algal groups. Indicator Species Analysis and Similarity Analysis listed 5-29 taxa for reference conditions. Indicator taxa differed especially between the low alkalinity North European and high alkalinity Central European lakess but there were also country-specific differences. Most common indicator taxa for the Northern reference lakes were chrysophytes (e.g. Bitrichia, Dinobryon). In the Central European reference lakes diatoms (e.g. Cyclotella) were more characteristic. Despite the differences there was a general finding that taxa present in reference lakes were often also present in non-reference lakes, but typically in lower biomass proportions. Another characteristic of the reference communities is the absence of many taxa typically found in non-reference lakes.

JARVINEN Marko;  DRAKARE Stina;  FREE Gary;  SOLHEIM Anne Lyche;  PHILLIPS Geoff;  SKJELBRED B.;  MISCHKE U;  OTT Ingmar;  POIKANE Sandra;  SONDERGAARD Martin;  PASZTALENIEC Agnieszka;  VAN WICHELEN Jeroen;  PORTIELJE Rob; 

2012-12-20

SPRINGER

JRC73575

0018-8158,   

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10750-012-1315-6,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC73575,   

10.1007/s10750-012-1315-6,