Acidification of three moorland pools in The Netherlands by acid precipitation and extreme drought periods over seven decades

Abstract

SUMMARY. 1. Relations between acidification by atmospheric deposition, water depth and the occurrence of dry summers in this century, as well as their effects on chemistry, macrophytes and diatoms in three moorland pools, are described.2. Direct observations and biological data indicate a decrease of pH by c. 0.5 unit over a period of seven decades in a pool where 20% of the bottom desiccates in extremely dry years, and 2 pH units over the same period in a pool where 70% of the bottom is exposed to the atmosphere in such years.3. Acidification promotes the growth of Juncus bulbosus L., Sphagnum and the acidobiontic diatom Eunotia exigua (Bréb.) Rabenh. and suppresses the growth of isoetids (e.g. Lobelia dortmanna L.) and of acidophilus and circumneutral diatoms. Also the acidobiontic Frustulia rhomboides var. saxonica (Rabenh.) Toni and Navicula subtilissima Cleve, characteristic of humic waters, decline by acidification.4. In two pools where more than half of the bottom desiccated in 1976, observed concentrations of sulphate were highest in 1977–78 and decreased later on. Juncus bulbosus had a maximum in 1977–80. Eunotia exigua became the dominant diatom after 1976 and decreased after 1981 in the pool with the shortest residence time (3 years).5. In desiccating pools the long‐term decrease of pH is apparently much larger than in softwater lakes in Scandinavia and North America. During the last 50 years, pH dropped rapidly after dry summers, probably due to oxidation of sulphur and nitrogen compounds which were originally derived from the atmosphere, reduced and stored in the sediments. Rapid falls in pH were followed by an increase, presumably due to alkalinity production during sulphate reduction and denitrification.