Public participation in monitoring programmes as a tool for lakeshore monitoring: the example of Lake Pyhäjärvi, Karelia, Eastern Finland

Abstract

Lake Pyhäjärvi, on the border between Finland and Russia in Karelia, is a very valuable clear-water lake of the Lobelia type. It belongs to the European Union's Natura 2000 programme in Finland, and has been included in regional and national monitoring programmes since the 1960s. The main monitoring station is situated near the outlet of the lake. Deterioration of its water quality was suspected already in the 1980s because of decreasing Secchi depths (transparency) and increasing chlorophyll a. The occurrence of algal blooms on the lakeshores is monitored weekly during each summer at one site on Lake Pyhäjärvi (site 1). This is a part of nationwide intensive algae monitoring programme organised by the environmental authorities together with voluntary observers at some 270 lake sites in Finland since 1998. Since 1997, Secchi depth observations have been carried out by volunteers biweekly or monthly at 17 sites on the lake. In the vicinity of one of these transparency observation sites (station 100), intensive monitoring of algae has been carried out. At this lakeshore monitoring site 69 algal observations were made, ten of which recorded algal blooms during the study period 1998–2002. The observed algal blooms were caused by algae of the Anabaena species, mainly by Anabaena lemmermannii. At Lake Pyhäjärvi the number of algal bloom observations received from the public have decreased from the 1990s to the 2000s. The range of Secchi disc transparency was 5.0–8.4 m with a mean value of 6.2 m at station 100 and 4.3–7.7 m (mean 6.1 m) at the main monitoring station 2 during the open water periods in 1998–2002. During this study period, the maximum values at site 100 seem to have increased slightly, which might indicate some improvement in the water quality due to decreased point source loading. We conclude that the intensive algal monitoring results of 5 years at the lakeshore site and the transparency results — both compiled by trained volunteers — reflect an improvement in the state of Lake Pyhäjärvi in Karelia. This conclusion is in accordance with the long-term water quality and short-core studies of sedimentary diatoms in Lake Pyhäjärvi. We suggest that the intensive algal observations and transparency measurements are both suitable methods for the monitoring of lakeshores and lakes, and that both are suitable for voluntary monitoring. We found public participation a good tool for monitoring lakes and lakeshores.