Lowland Lakes Research Articles

Using public participation to sample trace metals in lake surface sediments: the OPAL Metals Survey

Members of the public in England were invited in 2010 to take part in a national metals survey, by collecting samples of littoral sediment from a standing water body for geochemical analysis. To our knowledge, this is the first national sediment metals survey using public participation and reveals a snapshot of the extent of metals contamination in ponds and lakes across England. Hg, Ni, Cu, Zn and Pb concentrations exceeding sediment quality guidelines for the health of aquatic biota are ubiquitous in ponds and lakes, not just in areas with a legacy of industrial activity. To validate the public sampling approach, a calibration exercise was conducted at ten water bodies selected to represent a range of lakes found across England. Sediment concentrations of Hg, Ni, Cu, Zn and Pb were measured in samples of soil, stream and littoral and deep water sediment to assess inputs. Significant differences between littoral sediment metal concentrations occur due to local variability, but also organic content, especially in upland, peat soil catchments. Variability of metal concentrations between littoral samples is shown to be low in small (<20 ha) lowland lakes. Larger and upland lakes with more complex inputs and variation in organic content of littoral samples have a greater variability. Collection of littoral sediments in small lakes and ponds, with or without voluntary participation, can provide a reliable sampling technique for the preliminary assessment of metal contamination in standing waters. However, the heterogeneity of geology, soils and history/extent of metal contamination in the English landscape, combined with the random nature of sample collection, shows that systematic sampling for evaluating the full extent of metal contamination in lakes is still required.

Average niche breadths of species in lake macrophyte communities respond to ecological gradients variably in four regions on two continents.

Different species' niche breadths in relation to ecological gradients are infrequently examined within the same study and, moreover, species niche breadths have rarely been averaged to account for variation in entire ecological communities. We investigated how average environmental niche breadths (climate, water quality and climate-water quality niches) in aquatic macrophyte communities are related to ecological gradients (latitude, longitude, altitude, species richness and lake area) among four distinct regions (Finland, Sweden and US states of Minnesota and Wisconsin) on two continents. We found that correlations between the three different measures of average niche breadths and ecological gradients varied considerably among the study regions, with average climate and average water quality niche breadth models often showing opposite trends. However, consistent patterns were also found, such as widening of average climate niche breadths and narrowing of average water quality niche breadths of aquatic macrophytes along increasing latitudinal and altitudinal gradients. This result suggests that macrophyte species are generalists in relation to temperature variations at higher latitudes and altitudes, whereas species in southern, lowland lakes are more specialised. In contrast, aquatic macrophytes growing in more southern nutrient-rich lakes were generalists in relation to water quality, while specialist species are adapted to low-productivity conditions and are found in highland lakes. Our results emphasise that species niche breadths should not be studied using only coarse-scale data of species distributions and corresponding environmental conditions, but that investigations on different kinds of niche breadths (e.g., climate vs. local niches) also require finer resolution data at broad spatial extents.

Ecology of Cladocera species from Central America based on subfossil assemblages

&lt;p&gt;Cladocera species composition was analyzed in surface sediments of 29 lakes in Central America (Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras). The material studied was collected with an Ekman grab in autumn 2013 from lakes located in lowland, highland and mountain regions. The study revealed high variability in qualitative and quantitative composition of subfossil Cladocera. A total of 31 Cladocera species (5 planktonic and 26 littoral) were identified, as well as 4 morphotypes that could not be identified (NRR&lt;em&gt; &lt;/em&gt;1-4). Planktonic Bosminidae&lt;em&gt; &lt;/em&gt;and&lt;em&gt; &lt;/em&gt;Daphniidae were the most abundant families. Daphniidae were restricted to water bodies in mountain regions, whereas Bosminidae were widely distributed in lakes with different abiotic conditions. Moreover, Bosminidae species also occurred in highly mineralized waters (&amp;gt; 900 µS cm&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt;). The great majority of the identified Cladocera species belonged to the littoral family Chydoridae. &lt;em&gt;Chydorus &lt;/em&gt;cf.&lt;em&gt; sphaericus&lt;/em&gt; was the most common species (found in 20 lakes), which probably reflects its tolerance to a wide spectrum of habitat conditions. Cluster analysis discriminated 6 groups of Cladocera species with a high correlation level within groups (≥0.8), which showed different types of correlation with lake characteristics and environmental variables. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) showed that altitude and secondly water electrical conductivity were the most important drivers of Cladocera species composition in the region studied. Furthermore, CCA analysis indicated lowland lakes with low water transparency were also characterized by peculiar species assemblages. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

Trophic state and geographic gradients influence planktonic cyanobacterial diversity and distribution in New Zealand lakes.

Cyanobacteria are commonly associated with eutrophic lakes, where they often form blooms and produce toxins. However, they are a ubiquitous component of phytoplankton in lakes of widely varying trophic status. We hypothesised that cyanobacterial diversity would vary among lakes of differing trophic status, but that the relative importance of geographical and hydromorphological characteristics driving these patterns would differ across trophic groups. DNA from 143 New Zealand lakes that spanned a range of geographic, hydromorphological and trophic gradients was analysed using automated rRNA intergenic spacer analysis and screened for genes involved in cyanotoxin production. Statistical analysis revealed significant delineation among cyanobacterial communities from different trophic classes. Multivariate regression indicated that geographical features (latitude, longitude and altitude) were significant in driving cyanobacterial community structure; however, partitioning of their effects varied among trophic categories. High-throughput sequencing was undertaken on selected samples to investigate their taxonomic composition. The most abundant and diverse (71 operational taxonomic units) taxon across all lake types was the picocyanobacteria genus Synechococcus Cyanotoxins (microcystins n = 23, anatoxins n = 1) were only detected in eutrophic lowland lakes. Collectively, these data infer that increasing eutrophication of lakes will have broad-scale impacts on planktonic cyanobacteria diversity and the prevalence of cyanotoxins.

Variations in lignin-derived phenols in sediments of Japanese lakes over the last century and their relation to watershed vegetation

Lignins have been used as a biomarker to explore changes in terrestrial organic matter input into lakes and to investigate past watershed vegetation. Burial of organic carbon (OC) in lake sediments, an important component of the global C cycle, is likely associated with the terrestrial OC input. However, few studies have explored changes in terrestrial C input into lakes in the last century. Furthermore, the relationship between lignin phenol compositions and watershed vegetation remains poorly examined. In this study, we examined changes in OC concentrations, OC mass accumulation rates (MAR), and lignin phenol compositions over the last century in sediments from six lakes in Japan that differ in watershed land-use and vegetation. The sediments were dated using 210Pb and 137Cs, and showed increased OC concentrations and MARs in three lowland lakes over the last century. This pattern was not found in three mountain lakes. In one of the lowland lakes, lignin phenol concentrations normalized to OC did not change during the periods with high OC concentrations and MARs. This indicates that not only eutrophication but also enhanced terrestrial OC input could lead to greater burial of OC. The lignin phenol compositions did not show clear trends over the last century in most of the lakes examined. The ratios of syringyl to vanillyl phenols and the lignin phenol vegetation index had significant relationships with proportions of angiosperms in watershed vegetation. These results demonstrate that lignin phenols are useful in inferring recent as well as past changes in lake watershed environments.

Elodea canadensis (Michx.) in Polish lakes: a non-aggressive addition to native flora

Non-indigenous invasive aquatic plants affect macrophyte community composition, structure and abundance, and are recognised as one of the major causes of biodiversity loss in aquatic ecosystem. Their mass development poses serious ecological, sociological and economical threats in many countries. We investigated biological, physicochemical, hydromorphological and geographical data from 447 Polish lowland lakes to recognise the phenomenon of invasive macrophyte species and to identify environmental factors that determine their occurrence and abundance. We focused on Elodea canadensis (EC) as the most common and widespread alien hydrophyte in Poland. Phytocoenoses of EC were present in 40 % of analysed lakes. The area occupied by EC ranged from 2.3 to 5.5 % of the total vegetated area per year, on average, with a maximum of 37.8 %. A comparison between two sub-periods (2005–2009 and 2010–2013) revealed a lack of increase in EC mean abundance within the analysed period. Likewise, no evidence of EC effects on the native flora, its richness and diversity and no effects on the ecological status of the lakes were found. In the analysed period, EC did not demonstrate invasive character in Polish lakes. The habitat preference of EC was biased towards larger and deeper lakes located at higher altitudes, with longer water retention times, better water quality and better ecological status based on macrophytes compared with non-invaded lakes. We found altitude and water quality as the main determinants of EC occurrence within the sampled area. We suggest that both climate warming and accelerated eutrophication may contribute to reducing EC spread in Europe observed during recent decades.

Multiple drivers of Holocene lake level changes at a lowland lake in northeastern Germany

Many German lakes experienced significant water level declines in recent decades that are not fully understood due to the short observation period. At a typical northeastern German groundwater‐fed lake with a complex basin morphology, an acoustic sub‐bottom profile was analysed together with a transect of five sediment cores, which were correlated using multiple proxies (sediment facies, μ‐XRF, macrofossils, subfossil Cladocera). Shifts in the boundary between sand and mud deposition were controlled by lake level changes, and hence, allowed the quantification of an absolute lake level amplitude of ~8 m for the Holocene. This clearly exceeded observed modern fluctuations of 1.3 m (AD 1973–2010). Past lake level changes were traced continuously using the calcium‐record. During high lake levels, massive organic muds were deposited in the deepest lake basin, whereas lower lake levels isolated the sub‐basins and allowed carbonate deposition. During the beginning of the Holocene (&gt;9700 cal. a BP), lake levels were high, probably due to final melting of permafrost and dead‐ice remains. The establishment of water‐use intensive Pinus forests caused generally low (3–4 m below modern) but fluctuating lake levels (9700–6400 cal. a BP). Afterwards, the lake showed an increasing trend and reached a short‐term highstand at c. 5000 cal. a BP (4 m above modern). At the transition towards a cooler and wetter late Holocene, forests dominated by Quercus and Fagus and initial human impact probably contributed more positively to groundwater recharge. Lake levels remained high between 3800 and 800 cal. a BP, but the lake system was not sensitive enough to record short‐term fluctuations during this period. Lake level changes were recorded again when humans profoundly affected the drainage system, land cover and lake trophy. Hence, local Holocene water level changes reflect feedbacks between catchment and vegetation characteristics and human impact superimposed by climate change at multiple temporal scales.

Towards a more precisely defined macrophyte-dominated regime: the recent history of a shallow lake in Eastern Poland

Archived data and sedimentary macrofossil records of vegetation and invertebrates deposited in a 60-cm long sediment core were analysed to examine if macrophyte dominance was a permanent feature of the recent history of lowland Lake Kleszczow. For the last several centuries, the lake has not been dominated by phytoplankton but by floating-leaved vegetation at strongly reduced water level. Starting from the mid-nineteenth century, probably as a result of climate fluctuations, vegetation switched at first into submerged angiosperms, and then, in the second half of twentieth century, towards charophytes. Within charophytes there were switches between Chara globularis and C. vulgaris communities, depending on lake productivity or hydrological stress. No symptoms were detected of a switch to a turbid regime as a result of potential internal supply of phosphorus from sediments covered with a dense carpet of charophytes. Our study shows that within a longer period with clear water, the community of macro-vegetation can be highly dynamic. It can be represented by various types of vegetation as a response to different productivity levels and/or hydrological stress, largely determining the composition of other hydrobionts and course of various processes, and as a consequence, the functioning of the ecosystem and its resilience.

Stable isotopes and digital elevation models to study nutrient inputs in high-arctic lakes

Five major factors control nutrient and organic matter inputs in high-Arctic lakes, all potentially affected by climate change: ice cover; run-off from the watershed; aquatic and terrestrial primary productivity; guano deposition from birds. Quantifying these controls is a key first step to understand what combination of factors underlies the biological productivity in Arctic lakes and drives their ecological response to climate change. Based on C and N elemental content and stable isotope analysis in sediments belonging to three lakes in North Spitsbergen (Svalbard), Digital Elevation Models and drainage maps, we propose an integrated approach for the analysis of nutrient and organic matter inputs in lakes and the role of catchment hydro-geomorphology in determining inter-lake differences in the isotopic composition of sediments. Given its high run-off and large catchment, organic deposits in Tvillingvatnet were dominated by terrestrial inputs, whereas inputs were mainly of aquatic origin in Storvatnet, a lowland lake characterised by low potential run-off. In Kolhamna, organic deposits seemed to be dominated by inputs from birds. Isotopic signatures were similar between samples within each lake, representing precise tracers for studies on the effect of climate change on biogeochemical cycles in lakes. The presented approach proved to be an effective research pathway for the identification of factors underlying nutrient and organic matter inputs within each water body, as well as for the modelling of expected changes in nutrient content associated with changes in isotopic composition of sediments.

Response of temperate lakes to drought: a paleolimnological perspective on the landscape position concept using diatom-based reconstructions

The hydrological position of a lake within the landscape can affect a number of lake chemical, physical, and biological features, as well as how lakes respond to environmental change. We present a paleolimnological test of the model for landscape position and lake response to climate change proposed by Webster et al. (2000). To investigate how diatom communities have responded to drought relative to landscape position, we examined sedimentary diatom profiles extending through the twentieth century from an upland site (Crystal Lake) and a lowland site (Allequash Lake) in the Northern Highlands region of north-central Wisconsin (USA). To explore changes in diatom communities at each site, we developed a calibration set and transfer functions from 48 lakes in Wisconsin’s Northern Highland Lake District. We further determined planktic:benthic ratios in the two target lakes, developed lake level models, and investigated the sensitivity of planktic:benthic diatom ratios to climatic variability over the past century. In the upland lake, diatom communities responded indirectly to climate via drought-induced changes in lake level, which resulted in shifts in planktic versus benthic habitat availability. This response of diatoms to changes in habitat availability provides an alternative approach for tracking climate change in upland lakes, though careful consideration must be given to the effect of the bathymetry and its relationship to lake level change and habitat zonation at individual sites. In the lowland lake, changes in diatom communities were related to temperature (and possibly lakewater chemistry) and physical changes secondarily. These results are consistent with the model by Webster et al. (2000), with chemical changes occurring in the lowland system and little chemical response in the upland system. However, the biological changes in sediment records presented here provide additional insight into how lake response to climatic change is shaped by landscape position, contributing to a clearer understanding of potential changes in ecosystem structure and function during drought conditions.

Fish assemblage and diversity in lakes of western and central Turkey: role of geo-climatic and other environmental variables

We conducted a fish survey in 40 lakes in western and central Turkey. Fifty species (one to eleven per lake) were recorded, including eighteen endemic and seven alien species. We investigated which local geo-climatic and other environmental variables shaped the fish assemblages. Altitude and temperature turned out to be the most important factors for total species richness as well as richness of omnivorous and zooplanktivorous species and the Shannon–Wiener diversity index, with more species and higher diversity occurring in the warmer lowland lakes. Altitude may affect the fish assemblage directly through dispersal limitation or indirectly by creating a gradient in temperature with which it was strongly correlated. Cyprinidae was the most species-rich and widespread family. Atherinidae, Gobiidae, and Mugilidae (families of marine origin) were mainly found in the lowland regions, while Salmonidae exclusively appeared in the high-altitude lakes. The presence of widely distributed translocated native and alien species revealed a large human impact on the fish assemblages, potentially threatening the rich endemic fish fauna in lakes in this region.

Macrozoobenthos of small lowland lakes of Sakhalin Island

Species composition, structure and seasonal dynamics of macrozoobenthos in small lakes of Sakhalin Island are considered on the data of benthic surveys conducted in 1994-2012. Features of the bottom fauna are determined by the lakes origin, their connection with other water bodies, biotic and abiotic conditions. The faunas of the lakes of northern Sakhalin are distinguished by the highest similarity. Generally, variety of benthic communities in small lakes corresponds to their biotope diversity and reduces with the size of lakes decreasing. The most typical benthic communities are those ones of the coastal belt of rigid plants, of the belt of pondweed, and profundal community of the open water area; the latter only is observed in very small lakes. Seasonal dynamics of the benthic communities is defined by biology of a few key species which dominate the whole year round. For example, seasonal dynamics of the profundal community in small floodplain lakes is determined mainly by generative dynamics of one species of chironomid: Chironomus gr. plumosus . Three phases could be traced in the seasonal succession: i) winter; ii) spring and early summer; iii) late summer and autumn. They change under influence of seasonal events as spring flood, summer low water, ice formation, or mass fish migration (reaction of benthic communities on fish migration is adaptive, not catastrophic). Food web of the benthic communities in small lakes is based on autochthonous organic matter of phytoperiphyton, phytobenthos and phytoplankton settled to the bottom. Benthic communities of floodplain lakes play important role in preserving of rheophilic fauna during catastrophic floods.

The use of helophytes in assessing eutrophication of temperate lowland lakes: Added value?

Macrophyte-based methods for lake ecological status assessment universally include hydrophytes. Emergent plants (helophytes) are presumed to respond more directly to soil characteristics, wind exposure or shoreline management, hence are usually not considered as reliable indicators of water nutrient enrichment. The aims of the study were to explore the potential role of helophytes as eutrophication indicators and to test whether including or excluding emergent vegetation affects the indicator value of the Ecological State Macrophyte Index (ESMI) used in lake monitoring in Poland. Data on macrophyte composition and abundance (76 hydrophyte and 48 helophyte communities) and water quality from 490 Polish lowland lakes were analysed. Based on the frequency distribution and non-metric multi-dimensional scaling ordination, helophyte communities that exhibited clear trends of occurrence and abundance along the eutrophication gradient and enabled differentiation between lakes in diverse ecological conditions were identified. The effect of emergent vegetation on assessment metric diagnostic capacity was tested using modified index ESMI calculated with helophytes being included (CompESMITOT) and excluded (CompESMIHYDR) by comparing correlations between both metrics and eutrophication indicators (trophic state indices). Compared to CompESMITOT, CompESMIHYDR correlated slightly, though significantly weaker with most of the water quality indicators, and only for TSITP the difference in metric responses was statistically non-significant. The added diagnostic value of including emergent vegetation was between 0.04 and 0.08 of r2 increase and this benefit was more pronounced in more degraded lakes. The presented results demonstrated that emergent vegetation provides reliable information on ecosystem ecological conditions and can support assessment of the ecological status of lakes under eutrophication pressure.

Biological indicators track differential responses of pelagic and littoral areas to nutrient load reductions in German lakes

External nutrient loading was reduced over the past decades as a measure for improving the water quality of eutrophic lakes in western Europe, and has since been accelerated by the adoption of the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) in 2000 (EC, 2000). A variety of eutrophication-related metrics have indicated that the response of biological communities to this decreased nutrient loading has been diverse. Phytoplankton, a major component of the pelagic community, often responded rapidly, whereas a significant delay was observed for submerged macrophytes colonizing littoral areas. In this study we tested whether assessment methods developed for phytoplankton and macrophytes in lakes during Germany's implementation of the WFD reflect this differential response. An assessment of 263 German lakes confirmed that a lower ecological state was recorded when based on the biological quality element (BQE) for macrophytes than the BQE for phytoplankton during the investigated period (2003–2012). On average, lakes had a moderate ecological status for both phytoplankton and macrophyte BQEs, but differences of up to three classes were observed in single cases. Long-term data were available for five lowland lakes subject to strong reductions in phosphorus loading. Their phytoplankton-based assessments indicated a constant improvement of the ecological status in parallel to decreasing water phosphorus concentrations. In contrast, macrophyte-based assessments indicated a 10–20 year delay in their ecological recovery following nutrient load reduction. This delay was confirmed by detailed data on the temporal development of macrophyte species diversity and maximum colonization depths of two lakes after nutrient load reduction. We conclude that the available WFD assessment methods for phytoplankton and macrophyte BQEs are suitable to track the differential response of pelagic and littoral areas to nutrient load reductions in German lakes.

Food Web Topology in High Mountain Lakes.

Although diversity and limnology of alpine lake systems are well studied, their food web structure and properties have rarely been addressed. Here, the topological food webs of three high mountain lakes in Central Spain were examined. We first addressed the pelagic networks of the lakes, and then we explored how food web topology changed when benthic biota was included to establish complete trophic networks. We conducted a literature search to compare our alpine lacustrine food webs and their structural metrics with those of 18 published lentic webs using a meta-analytic approach. The comparison revealed that the food webs in alpine lakes are relatively simple, in terms of structural network properties (linkage density and connectance), in comparison with lowland lakes, but no great differences were found among pelagic networks. The studied high mountain food webs were dominated by a high proportion of omnivores and species at intermediate trophic levels. Omnivores can exploit resources at multiple trophic levels, and this characteristic might reduce competition among interacting species. Accordingly, the trophic overlap, measured as trophic similarity, was very low in all three systems. Thus, these alpine networks are characterized by many omnivorous consumers with numerous prey species and few consumers with a single or few prey and with low competitive interactions among species. The present study emphasizes the ecological significance of omnivores in high mountain lakes as promoters of network stability and as central players in energy flow pathways via food partitioning and enabling energy mobility among trophic levels.

Erratum to: Quantification of floating ephippia in lakes: a step to a better understanding of high dispersal propensity of freshwater plankters

Planktonic cladocerans of the genus Daphnia are an example of organisms whose ability to disperse among aquatic habitats is limited to dispersal of dormant eggs, encapsulated in protective structures called ephippia. In the present study, we aimed to quantify the production of floating and sinking ephippia in lakes to test the hypothesis that, even if they eventually sink, most of them are first floating at the surface. In addition, we checked the egg content status of the ephippia. The results of this study revealed numbers of ephippia floating at lakes surface reaching thousands per square metre at the time of ephippia production, and constituting substantial share of that production. In studied shallow lowland lakes and in a deep mountain lake, most ephippia were first floating at the water surface, while in deep lowland lakes the proportion was reversed. Approximately half of ephippia that appeared initially at the water surface sank during the six-week sampling period. The egg content status did not differ between floating and sinking ephippia. High numbers of ephippial females staying in the surface layers at night in a mountain lake, and a laboratory experiment with ephippial females indicated that ephippia are actively oviposited to the water surface by gravid females.

Quantification of floating ephippia in lakes: a step to a better understanding of high dispersal propensity of freshwater plankters

Planktonic cladocerans of the genus Daphnia are an example of organisms whose ability to disperse among aquatic habitats is limited to dispersal of dormant eggs, encapsulated in protective structures called ephippia. In the present study, we aimed to quantify the production of floating and sinking ephippia in lakes to test the hypothesis that, even if they eventually sink, most of them are first floating at the surface. In addition, we checked the egg content status of the ephippia. The results of this study revealed numbers of ephippia floating at lakes surface reaching thousands per square metre at the time of ephippia production, and constituting substantial share of that production. In studied shallow lowland lakes and in a deep mountain lake, most ephippia were first floating at the water surface, while in deep lowland lakes the proportion was reversed. Approximately half of ephippia that appeared initially at the water surface sank during the six-week sampling period. The egg content status did not differ between floating and sinking ephippia. High numbers of ephippial females staying in the surface layers at night in a mountain lake, and a laboratory experiment with ephippial females indicated that ephippia are actively oviposited to the water surface by gravid females.

Population genetic dynamics of an invasion reconstructed from the sediment egg bank.

Biological invasions are a global issue with far-reaching consequences for single species, communities and whole ecosystems. Our understanding of modes and mechanisms of biological invasions requires knowledge of the genetic processes associated with successful invasions. In many instances, this information is particularly difficult to obtain as the initial phases of the invasion process often pass unnoticed and we rely on inferences from contemporary population genetic data. Here, we combined historic information with the genetic analysis of resting eggs to reconstruct the invasion of Daphnia pulicaria into Lower Lake Constance (LLC) in the 1970s from the resting egg bank in the sediments. We identified the invader as 'European D.pulicaria' originating from meso- and eutrophic lowland lakes and ponds in Central Europe. The founding population was characterized by extremely low genetic variation in the resting egg bank that increased considerably over time. Furthermore, strong evidence for selfing and/or biparental inbreeding was found during the initial phase of the invasion, followed by a drop of selfing rate to low levels in subsequent decades. Moreover, the increase in genetic variation was most pronounced during early stages of the invasion, suggesting additional introductions during this period. Our study highlights that genetic data covering the entire invasion process from its beginning can be crucial to accurately reconstruct the invasion history of a species. We show that propagule banks can preserve such information enabling the study of population genetic dynamics and sources of genetic variation in successful invasive populations.

A chrysophyte-based quantitative reconstruction of winter severity from varved lake sediments in NE Poland during the past millennium and its relationship to natural climate variability

Chrysophyte cysts are recognized as powerful proxies of cold-season temperatures. In this paper we use the relationship between chrysophyte assemblages and the number of days below 4 °C (DB4 °C) in the epilimnion of a lake in northern Poland to develop a transfer function and to reconstruct winter severity in Poland for the last millennium. DB4 °C is a climate variable related to the length of the winter. Multivariate ordination techniques were used to study the distribution of chrysophytes from sediment traps of 37 low-land lakes distributed along a variety of environmental and climatic gradients in northern Poland. Of all the environmental variables measured, stepwise variable selection and individual Redundancy analyses (RDA) identified DB4 °C as the most important variable for chrysophytes, explaining a portion of variance independent of variables related to water chemistry (conductivity, chlorides, K, sulfates), which were also important. A quantitative transfer function was created to estimate DB4 °C from sedimentary assemblages using partial least square regression (PLS). The two-component model (PLS-2) had a coefficient of determination of Rcross2 = 0.58, with root mean squared error of prediction (RMSEP, based on leave-one-out) of 3.41 days. The resulting transfer function was applied to an annually-varved sediment core from Lake Żabińskie, providing a new sub-decadal quantitative reconstruction of DB4 °C with high chronological accuracy for the period AD 1000–2010. During Medieval Times (AD 1180–1440) winters were generally shorter (warmer) except for a decade with very long and severe winters around AD 1260–1270 (following the AD 1258 volcanic eruption). The 16th and 17th centuries and the beginning of the 19th century experienced very long severe winters. Comparison with other European cold-season reconstructions and atmospheric indices for this region indicates that large parts of the winter variability (reconstructed DB4 °C) is due to the interplay between the oscillations of the zonal flow controlled by the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and the influence of continental anticyclonic systems (Siberian High, East Atlantic/Western Russia pattern). Differences with other European records are attributed to geographic climatological differences between Poland and Western Europe (Low Countries, Alps). Striking correspondence between the combined volcanic and solar forcing and the DB4 °C reconstruction prior to the 20th century suggests that winter climate in Poland responds mostly to natural forced variability (volcanic and solar) and the influence of unforced variability is low.

Minimum shoreline restoration requirements to improve the ecological status of a north-eastern German glacial lowland lake in an urban landscape

Minimum shoreline restoration requirements to improve the ecological status of a north-eastern German glacial lowland lake in an urban landscape