The trophic state of small Pampean lakes, its relationship with hydrology and land use intensity
Keywords:
shallow lakes, Pampas, eutrophicationAbstract
The trophic state of the Pampean shallow lakes is influenced by the soil fertility and the hydrometeorological conditions as well as by the human activities. The climate of the Pampean region alternates between relatively large periods of drought and flood. In areas where agriculture is intensive, nutrient from excesses in the use of fertilizers can affect the trophic state of lakes. From December 1999 to April 2002, seven small shallow lakes located in the NW of the Buenos Aires province were studied. Changes in the lake depth, water conductivity, nutrients concentrations and chlorophyll a were analyzed. Precipitation was intense during both 2000 and 2001 years. During the first year, the precipitation diluted the high phosphorus concentrations in all the lakes. Despite high precipitation during 2001, the lakes increased their concentrations of phosphorus. These contrasting results could be explained by the different trophic states of the lakes at the beginning of the autumnal precipitation. During the whole study period, algal biomass was more related with nitrogen concentration rather than phosphorous concentration. During the summer season, the lakes generally were under a negative water balance and their nutrients concentrations and algal biomass were high. Nevertheless, the hydrological variability and the agriculture use would alter the physical, chemical and biological parameters of the small Pampean shallow lakes.
References
ARBUCKLE, KE & JA DOWING. 2001. The influence of watershed land use on lake N:P in a predominantly agricultural landscape. Limnol. Oceanogr., 46(4):970-975.
CHORNOMAZ, EM; ME ETCHEPARE; RU ESCARAY; JF BUSTINGORRY & VH CONZONNO. 2002. Efectos de la inundación ocurrida durante el año 2001 sobre la laguna chascomús (Pcia. de Buenos Aires). Pp. 53-59 en: A Fernandez Cirelli & G Chalar Marquisá (eds). El agua en Iberoamérica De la Limnología a la Gestión en Sudamérica. CYTED Red XVII. Buenos Aires, Argentina.
DILLON, PJ & FH RIGLER. 1975. A simple method for predicting the capacity of a lake for development based on lake trophic status. J. Fish. Res. Bd. Can., 32:1519-1531.
DOWNING, JA & E MCCAULEY. 1992. The nitrogen:phosphorus relationship in lakes. Limnol. Oceanogr., 37:936-945.
FUSCHINI MEJÍA, MC. 1994. El agua en las llanuras. Unesco/Orcyt. Montevideo, Uruguay.
GABELLONE, NA; LC SOLARI & MC CLAPS. 2001. Planktonic and physico–chemical dynamics of a markedly fluctuating backwater pond associated with a lowland river (Salado River, Buenos Aires, Argentina). Lakes Reserv.: Res. Manage., 6:133–142.
GHERSA, CM; DO FERRARO; M OMACINI; MA MARTÍNEZ- GHERSA; S PERELMAN; EH SATORRE ET AL. 2002. Farm and landscape level variables as indicators of
sustainable land-use in the Argentine Inland-Pampa. Agric. Ecosyst. Environ., 93:279–293.
HEILER, G; T HEIN; F SCHIEMER & G BORNETTE. 1995. Hydrological connectivity and flood pulses as the central aspects for the integrity of a river-floodplain system. Regul. Rivers: Res. Manage., 11(3-4):351-361.
HOWARTH, RW; G BILLEN; D SWANEY; A TOWNSEND; A JAWORSKI ET AL. 1996. Regional nitrogen budgets and riverine N & P fluxes for the drainages to North Atlantic Ocean: Natural and human influences. Biogeochemistry, 35:75-139.
IRIONDO, M. 1984. The quaternary of northeastern Argentina. Pp.51-78 in: J Rabassa (ed.). Quaternary of South America and Antartic Peninsula 2. A.A. Balkema. Rotterdam.
IRIONDO, M. 1989. Quaternary lakes of Argentina. Paleogeography Paleoclimatology Paleoecology, 70:81-88.
IZAGUIRRE, I & A VINOCUR. 1994. Typology of shallow lakes of the Salado River basin (Argentina), based on phytoplankton communities. Hydrobiologia, 277:49-62.
JEPPESEN, E; JP JENSEN; M SONDERGAARD; TL LAURIDSEN; LJ PEDERSEN & L JENSEN. 1997. Top-down control in freshwater lakes: The role of nutrient state, submerged macrophytes and water depth. Hydrobiologia, 342/343:151-164.
JEPPESEN, E; P KRISTENSEN; JP JENSEN; M SONDERGAARD; E MORTENSEN & TL LAURIDSEN. 1991. Recovery resilience following a reduction in external phophorus loading of shallow eutrophic Danish lakes: Duration, regulating factors and methods for overcoming resilience. Memorie dell ́Istituto Italiano di Idrobiologia, 48:127-148.
JEPPESEN E., SØNDERGAARD M., KRONVANG B., JENSEN J.P., SVENDSEN L.M. & LAURIDSEN T. 1999 Lake and catchment management in Denmark. Hydrobiologia 395/396:419-432.
KALFF, J. 2002a. The Phytoplankton. Capítulo 21. Pp.309-348 in: Limnology. Prentice Hall. Upper Saddle River, EEUU.
KALFF, J. 2002b. Hydrology and Climate. Capítulo 5. Pp.53-71 in: Limnology. Prentice Hall. Upper Saddle River, EEUU.
PRAIRIE, YT; CM DUARTE & J KALFF. 1989. Unifying nutrient-chlorophyll relationships in lakes. Can. F. Fish. Aquat. Sci., 46:1176-1182.
QUINTANA, XD; R MORENO-AMICH & FA COMIN. 1998. Nutrient and plankton dynamics in a Mediterranean salt marsh dominated by incidents of flooding. Part 1: Differential confinement of nutrients. J. Plankton Res., 20:2089–2107.
QUIRÓS, R & E DRAGO. 1999. The environmental state of Argentinean lakes: An overview. Lakes and Reservoirs: Research and Management, 4:55-64.
QUIRÓS, R; AM RENNELLA; MB BOVERI; JJ ROSSO & A SOSNOVSKY. 2002a. Factores que afectan la estructura y el funcionamiento de las lagunas pampeanas. Ecol. Aust., 12:175-185.
QUIRÓS, R; JJ ROSSO; AM RENNELLA; A SOSNOVSKY & MB BOVERI. 2002b. Análisis del estado trófico de las lagunas pampeanas (Argentina). Interciencia, 27(11):584-591.
RENNELLA, AM & R QUIRÓS. 2006. The effects of hydrology on plankton biomass in shallow lakes of the Pampa Plain. Hydrobiologia, 556:181-191.
SAS, H. 1989. Lake restoration by reduction of nutrient loading: expectations, experiences, extrapolations. Academia Verlag Richarz. St. Augustin, Alemania.
SCHEFFER, M. 1998. The abiotic environment. Capítulo 2. Pp.20-75 in: Ecology of shallow lakes. 1ra edn. Chapman & Hall. London, UK.
SCHEFFER, M; SH HOSPER; ML MEIJER; B MOSS & E JEPPESEN. 1993. Alternative equilibria in shallow lakes. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 8:275-279.
SOLARI, LC; MC CLAPS & NA GABELLONE. 2002. River-backwater pond interactions in the lower basin of the Salado River (Buenos Aires, Argentina). Arch. Hydrobiol. Suppl., 141(13):99-119.
SORIANO, A. 1992. Río de la Plata grasslands. Pp. 367-407 en: RT Coupland (ed.). Ecosystems of the world. 8A. Natural grasslands. Introduction and western hemisphere. Elsevier. New York, USA.
SOSNOVSKY, A & R QUIRÓS. 2005. Efectos de la intensidad de uso de la tierra en pequeñas lagunas (Argentina). Pp. 199-215 en: I Vila & J Pizarro (eds). Tercer Taller Internacional de Eutrofización de Lagos y Embalses. CYTED Red XVIIB. Santiago de Chile, Chile.
TRICART, JFL. 1973. Geomorfología de la Pampa Deprimida. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Buenos Aires, Argentina.
VERVOORST, FB. 1967. Las comunidades vegetales de la Depresión del Salado (Provincia de Buenos Aires). Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Buenos Aires, Argentina.
VOLLENWEIDER, RA. 1969. Moglichkeiten und grenzen elementarer modelle der stoffbilanz von seen. Archiv für Hydrobiologie, 66:1-36.
WETZEL, RG. 2001a. Limnology: Lake and River Ecosystems. 3ra edn. Academic Press. New York.
WETZEL, RG. 2001b. Shallow lakes and ponds. Capítulo 20. Pp.625-630 in: Limnology: Lake and River Ecosystems. 3ra edn. Academic Press. New York.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Authors retain their rights as follows: 1) by granting the journal the right to its first publication, and 2) by registering the published article with a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0), which allows authors and third parties to view and use it as long as they clearly mention its origin (citation or reference, including authorship and first publication in this journal). Authors can make other non-exclusive distribution agreements as long as they clearly indicate their origin and are encouraged to widely share and disseminate the published version of their work.
