Lake Kinneret phytoplankton: Stability and variability during twenty years (1970?1989)

Abstract

The general features of phytoplankton seasonal succession, abundance and distribution in Lake Kinneret, as based on observations from 1970 through 1989, are summarised. Throughout this period of observation, the large, thecate dinoflagellatePeridinium gatunense formed an annual, late winter to early spring bloom resulting in very high standing stock levels. The dominance of these dinoflagellates has a profound impact upon the lake ecosystem. In the summer and fall the phytoplankton assemblage consisted mainly of nanoplanktonic green and blue-green algae and diatoms. Picophytoplankton, mainly picocyanobacteria, were present in low numbers during the dinoflagellate bloom but reached maximum abundance (105 cells · ml−1) in the epilimnion during the summer and fall. Within a given year, chlorophyll concentrations correlated well with estimates of wet weight biomass, derived from microscope counts. However, interannual averages of chlorophyll did not correlate closely with those for wet weight biomass. Both wet weight biomass and chlorophyll standing stocks fluctuated more than 2 fold from 1970 through 1989 but no extreme, long-term, continuous trend of increase or decrease was observed. Thus, phytoplankton has remained relatively stable although there has been a significant rise in the levels of summer-fall biomass since 1981. The main factor responsible for this may have been increased available phosphorus; the abundance of phytoplankton did not show any clear, long-term relation to that of herbivorous zooplankton.