Nitrogen fixation in lakes of the Lake Washington drainage basin

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Biological nitrogen fixation rates have been measured periodically in the epilimnetic waters of four Washington lakes using the acetylene reduction technique. Nitrogen fixation was detected regularly during the summer in the mesotrophic lakes, Lake Sammamish and Lake Washington, but only occasionally in the oligotrophic lakes, Lake Chester Morse and Findley Lake. The contribution of fixed nitrogen in these lakes was estimated to be less than 1% of the total annual nitrogen input from other sources. Comparison of these lakes with others for which appropriate data are available suggest that the low rate of fixation is consistent with the types and abundance of the algal flora and the trophic conditions of the lakes.