<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

This study focused on the determination of the phytoplankton-based recovery requirement, including bloom intensity thresholds in human-affected lakes, helpful in the restoration. The phytoplankton and physicochemical analyses were carried out on seven urban lakes in Kartuzy and Skępe. The Phytoplankton Metric for Polish Lakes was used to assess the ecological status and the Trophic Level Index was used to determine the trophic state. Only one lake had a good ecological status (meeting the WFD requirements for at least good status), whereas other lakes had poor or bad ecological status. All of them were eutrophic or hyper-eutrophic and the summer phytoplankton assemblages were dominated mainly by bloomforming cyanobacteria. The lowest phytoplankton bloom threshold of 2.6 mm3 l-1 (seasonal maximum) and the following thresholds of 5 mm3 l-1 for classes I/II; 8 mm3 l-1 for classes II/III; 21 mm3 l-1 for classes III/IV; 100 mm3 l-1 for classes IV/V were proposed for urban lakes. This could directly refer to the bloom intensity for high, good, moderate, poor and bad ecological status. This all indicates a huge recovery requirement in the majority of urban lakes, and the proposed bloom intensity classification may be helpful in fulfilling the WFD targets for the ecologicallyrelevant lake status.
</abstract>

This study focused on the determination of the phytoplankton-based recovery requirement, including bloom intensity thresholds in human-affected lakes, helpful in the restoration. The phytoplankton and physicochemical analyses were carried out on seven urban lakes in Kartuzy and Skępe. The Phytoplankton Metric for Polish Lakes was used to assess the ecological status and the Trophic Level Index was used to determine the trophic state. Only one lake had a good ecological status (meeting the WFD requirements for at least good status), whereas other lakes had poor or bad ecological status. All of them were eutrophic or hyper-eutrophic and the summer phytoplankton assemblages were dominated mainly by bloomforming cyanobacteria. The lowest phytoplankton bloom threshold of 2.6 mm3 l-1 (seasonal maximum) and the following thresholds of 5 mm3 l-1 for classes I/II; 8 mm3 l-1 for classes II/III; 21 mm3 l-1 for classes III/IV; 100 mm3 l-1 for classes IV/V were proposed for urban lakes. This could directly refer to the bloom intensity for high, good, moderate, poor and bad ecological status. This all indicates a huge recovery requirement in the majority of urban lakes, and the proposed bloom intensity classification may be helpful in fulfilling the WFD targets for the ecologicallyrelevant lake status.

Phytoplankton-based recovery requirement for urban lakes in the implementation of the Water Framework Directive’s ecological targets

Department of Water Protection Engineering

Oceanological and Hydrobiological Studies

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

This study focused on the determination of the phytoplankton-based recovery requirement, including bloom intensity thresholds in human-affected lakes, helpful...

Phytoplankton-based recovery requirement for urban lakes in the implementation of the Water Framework Directive’s ecological targets

Published Online: Mar 13, 2015

Page range: 109 - 119

Received: Oct 17, 2014

Accepted: Nov 24, 2014

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/ohs-2015-0011

© 2015 Faculty of Oceanography and Geography, University of Gdańsk, Poland

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.