Water level changes in Lake Constance and their relationship to changes in macrophyte settlement in the outflows of Lake Constance Upper and Lower Lake

Abstract

Since 2008, water level differences between Upper and Lower Lake Constance have increased after they decreased significantly in the 20th century. Questioning the causes leads to the hypothesis that the significant changes in the submerged macrophyte vegetation due to eutrophication and subsequent oligotrophication have played an essential role over the past decades. To clarify whether macrophyte vegetation is the cause of the changed water levels, the spatial distribution of Swiss pondweed Potamogeton helveticus (syn. Stuckenia helvetica) and the other submerged macrophytes was mapped in 2017. Swiss pondweed, in particular plays a key role as a perennial plant type in flow channels. Shoot densities and lengths of this species were recorded by diving. The investigations were supplemented by hydrodynamic modeling of the effects of macrophyte flow resistance on lake water level relationships.The results show that P. helveticus has indeed increased significantly over the past decade. The species colonizes the bottom of flow channels in the Seerhein up to 6 m deep with up to 1000 shoots per square meter and a length of up to 5 m, whereas in the previous decades it only occurred at the edges of flow channels as small stands with shoot lengths of less than 1 m. In the shallow water zones outside the flow channels, stoneworts in particular have spread in the Seerhein over the past decade. The hydrodynamic modeling supports the hypothesis that aquatic plants are the cause of the changed lake water level conditions and illustrate the related changes in the flow velocity field.