Cold and wet: Diatoms dominate the phytoplankton community during a year of anomalous weather in a Great Lakes estuary

As sentinels of climate change and other anthropogenic forces, freshwater lakes are experiencing ecosystem disruptions at every level of the food web, beginning with the phytoplankton, a highly responsive group of organisms. Most studies regarding the effects of climate change on phytoplankton focus on a potential scenario in which temperatures continuously increase and droughts intersperse heavy precipitation events. Like much of the conterminous United States in 2019, the Muskegon River watershed (Michigan, USA) experienced record-breaking rainfall accompanied by unusually cool temperatures, affording an opportunity to explore how an alternate potential climate scenario may affect phytoplankton. We conducted biweekly sampling of environmental variables and phytoplankton in Muskegon Lake, a Great Lakes Area of Concern that connects to Lake Michigan. We compared environmental variables in 2019 to the previous eight years using long-term data from the Muskegon Lake Observatory buoy, and annual monitoring excursions provided historical phytoplankton data. Under cold and wet conditions, diatoms were the single dominant division throughout the entire growth season – an unprecedented scenario in Muskegon Lake. In 10 of the 13 biweekly sampling days in 2019, diatoms comprised over 75% of the phytoplankton community in the lake by count, indicating that the spring diatom bloom persisted through the fall. Additionally, phytoplankton seasonal succession and abundance patterns typically seen in this lake were absent. In a world experiencing reduced predictability, increased variability, and regional climate anomalies, studying periods of extreme weather events may offer insight into how natural systems will be affected and respond under future climate scenarios.     

Rip currents near coastal structures in Lake Michigan: Characterization and assessment for warnings

Rip currents near coastal structures commonly occur in Lake Michigan in the Great Lakes region of the United States. Lack of timely warning due to undocumented characteristics of rip currents and no assessment tool can contribute to tragic drownings incidents. In this paper, we characterized rip current occurrences near breakwater structures and developed an assessment tool for providing timely rip current warnings to beachgoers at the study site, City of Port Washington, WI. Characteristics of rip currents near the structure were observed from field measurements or visual images. Deflection rip currents had speeds of ～ 0.2 m/s and lasted for several hours. The rip current occurrences were associated with environmental proxies. It was found that rip currents can occur even when the water appears calm near the structure. A Structure Rip Checklist and Assessment Matrix (SRiCAM) with a four-tiered risk was developed and validated using observations. Furthermore, the SRiCAM was integrated into cyberinfrastructure with a data contingency plan to provide real-time warnings to the public. The applicability of the SRiCAM to other locations across Lake Michigan was further tested and results are promising. Overall, the SRiCAM has the potential to be widely extended to foster recreational water safety and resilience to rip current hazards in the Great Lakes.     

Invader amphipods Gmelinoides fasciatus (Stebbing, 1899) inhabiting distant waterbodies demonstrate differences in tolerance and energy metabolism under elevated temperatures

Gmelinoides fasciatus is a successful invasive amphipod (Amphipoda, Crustacea) that dispersed from Lake Baikal to various waterbodies. Here we studied whether Baikal conditions are optimal for G. fasciatus in terms of thermotolerance and investigated lethal temperatures, 70 kDa heat shock protein level, energy metabolism, and antioxidant defense of animals from three geographically distant waterbodies under changing temperatures. We used acute heat exposure to 28 °C to assess the median lethal times and gradual temperature increase from 6 °C to determine the lethal temperatures. Mortality under heat shock was explainable by the baseline content of Hsp70 that correlated with thermal history. But it was not the case under gradual temperature increase where Hsp70 levels became similar and the mortality pattern changed. The most thermotolerant amphipods from the Gulf of Finland demonstrated a higher amount of free glucose during the temperature increase that may be related to the higher salinity of this waterbody and less energy required for ion regulation. Even though concentrations of major physiological ions in Lake Baikal are lower than in Lake Ladoga, G. fasciatus from Ladoga was slightly more sensitive to the gradual temperature increase. This difference could be explained by the influence of high levels of humic and other potentially toxic substances in Lake Ladoga indicated by increased activities of catalase and glutathione S-transferase. Importantly, all G. fasciatus populations accumulated relatively low levels of lactate during the temperature increase, which may reflect the ability of this invasive species to effectively maintain aerobic metabolism under various conditions.     

Phytoplankton primary production, chlorophyll-a and nutrient concentrations in the water column of mountainous Lake Phewa, Nepal

The seasonal patterns of phytoplankton primary production, chlorophyll‐a concentration, cell number and several other limnological variables in Lake Phewa, located in the active monsoon zone in Central Himalaya, Nepal, were studied for a year beginning in April 2001. During the study period, the gross primary production and chlorophyll‐a concentrations were relatively low during the monsoon season. The phytoplankton cell number, represented by 24 genera, also fluctuated seasonally, but tended to increase in the pre‐ and post‐monsoon period. These results suggest that the monsoon plays a crucial role in the primary production and phytoplankton dynamics for Lake Phewa. Among the phytoplankton species, Microcystis aeruginosa, a representative species for eutrophic lakes, was the dominant phytoplankton. At the same time, however, it is clear that the lake is not yet heavily eutrophic. The present study suggests that the exchange of lake water during the monsoon season contributes to maintaining the health of the lake against further degradation. Nevertheless, the silt carried in the monsoon rain run‐off from the lake's catchment area suggests increasingly serious degradation problems for this small mountainous lake.     

Lake Chivero: A management case study

Lake Chivero in Zimbabwe was shown to be hypereutrophic. Historical data showed that the eutrophication process had been arrested in the late 1970s. However, a combination of poor planning, multiplicity of jurisdiction, mismatch between rate of urbanization and waste management investment, recent changes in the local climate and a permissive, immature political system that called for no public accountability resulted in environmental management breakdown leading to hypereutrophication of the lake. The case of Lake Chivero is presented as an example of a wider global issue regarding the status of environmental management in competition with other priorities in emerging democracies.     

骆马湖生态建设

骆马湖为浅水湖泊,具有典型的过水性特征,已经处于中富营养化阶段。通过对骆马湖富营养化发生机制的研究,发现入湖河道携入大量营养物质入湖和水生植物的破坏是骆马湖富营养化进程加快的主要原因。为了保护骆马湖水质,提出对骆马湖生态建设的意见:建立自然保护区,建设入湖口人工湿地,建设骆马湖生态湖滨,通过生态渔业和生态旅游实现骆马湖的可持续开发。     

鄱阳湖控制浅说

该控制工程主要效益是改变鄱阳湖“夏水冬陆”的现状，成为祖国名符其实的第一大淡水湖，水面与避署胜地庐山和历史名城南昌、景德镇等相连，改善沿湖环境，发展航运，增加水产，开发利用丰富的水资源和旅游资源使之与杭州西湖、瑞士日内瓦湖等并列为世界名湖。     

清涧河流域不同水土保持措施配置下蓄水拦沙效益分析

从分析清涧河流域不同年代水土保持措施配置人手，以蓄水拦沙效益为研究目标，探讨了水土保持措施优化配置问题。分析认为：水土保持措施配置与蓄水拦沙效益是密切相关的，淤地坝在水土保持措施配置中应占有合理比重，坡面治理措施配置中需进一步加大封禁治理比例。     

需水胁迫下的流域"三生"用水系统演化分析

生态用水和社会经济用水的竞争状况使得研究水资源短缺地区流域“三生”用水系统演化状况,以及有效进行流域“三生”用水系统的调控十分必要。从宏观角度出发,本文提出了构建流域主要指标为状态变量下的“三生”用水系统演化模拟模型,并利用模型进行演化趋势预测的分析思路。以蓟运河流域为例,构建了人口数量、人均GDP、生态系统指数以及生态用水比例为状态变量的“三生”用水系统演化模型。通过定量模拟,表明若不加以调控,该流域最终将走向生态失衡、经济停滞的恶性局面。由参数设置对调控方案进行分析,提出了提高生态用水比例、控制经济增长速度、提高用水效率和积极进行生态建设对策,为实现蓟运河流域的“三生”用水系统可持续发展服务。