Evaluation of Total Phosphorus as a Predictor of the Relative Biomass of Blue-green Algae with Emphasis on Alberta Lakes

Abstract

The relative biomass of blue-green algae in freshwater (total dissolved solids < 500 mg∙L−1) Alberta lakes was consistently underestimated by two recent empirical models based on total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), Secchi disc depth (SD), and depth of the mixed layer (Zm). We regrouped the data used in these empirical models to eliminate the potential biases introduced by including data from lakes not in dynamic equilibrium and generated a new model based on TP. This new model accounted for 11% more of the variation in relative blue-green algal biomass than the original model based on TN, TP, SD, and Zm and 21% more than the model based on TN to TP ratios and SD to Zm ratios. This new model was also a much better predictor of the relative biomass of blue-green algae in Alberta lakes than the original models. In addition, for lakes in Alberta, TP was a much better predictor of total blue-green algal biomass than TN or the TN to TP ratio. Our analyses suggest that for large numbers of lakes, TP may be as good or better an indicator of relative and total biomass of blue-green algae than TN or TN to TP ratios.