Palaeolimnology as a tool to inform shallow lake management: an example from Upton Great Broad, Norfolk, UK

Abstract

This palaeolimnological study investigates recent changes in the biological structure of an English shallow lake (Upton Great Broad, Norfolk). By focusing on the historical occurrence of submerged macrophytes, particularly the rare UK species, Najas marina L. (Holly-leaved Naiad), we address a management question that frequently arises for shallow lakes, namely whether to undertake sediment removal to increase water depth and/or restore conservation value. Macro-remains of aquatic macrophytes and molluscs were analysed in two littoral sediment cores and combined with other historical ecological data covering the last 100 years. Before around 1900, the lake had Chara meadows (including at least three species) and an associated species-rich community of Mollusca. Between around 1900-1970 a period of high angiosperm diversity is suggested with a reduction of Characeae and the development of patches of water-lily (particularly Nymphaea alba L.) and fen swamp in the open water. Then, after around 1970, our data indicate a rapid shift towards Najas-dominance coupled with a decrease in the seasonal length of the plant-covered period. The expansion of Najas was clearly associated with, and may even be dependent upon, a highly unusual fluid, green sediment formation that developed at the site from around the same time. Thus, despite the loss of an earlier more diverse vegetation and associated fauna, we suggest that best practice conservation may be allow natural site development and not to undertake active management such as sediment removal which might threaten the status of Najas. Our conclusion could only have been arrived at through the long-term ecological perspective that a palaeolimnological approach provides.