The Availability of Phosphorus and the Species Composition of the Spring Phytoplankton in Lake Erken

✍ Scribed by Dr. Kurt Pettersson

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1985
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 858 KB
• Volume: 70
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1434-2944
• DOI: 10.1002/iroh.19850700407

✦ Synopsis

The spring development of phytoplankton and the phosphorus content were monitored intensively in Laken Erken during the springs of 1979 and 1980. The dominant species were dinoflagellates, mainly Woloszynskia ordinata and Peridinium acieuliferum, during the entire spring of 1979. The long period of ice-cover (21 weeks) favoured the motile species, which were able t o utilize the available light immediately below the ice. A considerable vertical migration was noticed in March 1979.

These large and slow-growing algae were able t o store luxury phosphorus, and surplus phosphorus concentrations u p to 12 pg P/1 were measured, which corresponded to an algal content of 10 pg P/mg C. These values were more than twice as high as those recorded earlier in Lake Erken. Although a spring outburst of diatoms did not occur in 1979 and 1980, the algae were phosphoruslimited in May, as indicated by high alkaline phosphat,ase activity, low algal surplus phosphorus content and high inorganic N : P ratios.