The ecological history of a mediaeval man-made lake. Hickling Broad, Norfolk, United Kingdom
✍ Scribed by Brian Moss
- Book ID
- 104614915
- Publisher
- Springer
- Year
- 1978
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 612 KB
- Volume
- 60
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1573-5141
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Changes in Hickling Broad, since its creation in the 14th or 15th centuries by the flooding of peat diggings, have been deduced from dating and analysis of a sediment core, historical information and current limnological studies . Until the 1930's there was little major change . Increased agricultural land fertilization led to markedly increased organic sedimentation from the 1930's onwards, due to increased growth of submerged macrophytes . Inorganic sedimentation increased concurrently as more powerful pumps were installed to help drain the adjacent fens and marshes .
There was no evidence of increased plankton populations during this phase, but epiphytic diatom populations increased . In the mid 196o's the current period of hypereutrophication began . Epiphytic diatom numbers increased markedly and in the early 1970's the previous luxuriant macrophytes became sparse and the water became turbid with phytoplankton . These changes are attributable mainly to increases in the size of a roost of migratory black headed gulls (Larus ridibundus L.) on the lake in autumn and winter .