Mar Chiquita is the largest salt lake in South America. Because of its rich and diverse biodiversity, it has been designated a world site of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. Despite its importance, its limnological characteristics are poorly documented. Here we report a baseline assessment of the seasonal variations of several limnological parameters on the southern coast of the lake. Samples were obtained at two lake sites (pelagic and coastal) and an additional site in the Laguna del Plata estuary lagoon. We found that Mar Chiquita is a well-mixed eutrophic shallow lake with significant spatial and seasonal variations in its limnological parameters. Of particular relevance are the spring turnover and the clear water phase in summer, being characterized by nutrient peaks (total nitrogen, total phosphorus (P) and soluble reactive P) in early spring, followed by peaks in zooplankton and ammonia in late spring and summer, together with a decrease in chlorophyll and pH. These events appear related to seasonal variations in water temperature and the shallowness of the lake that allows strong biochemical interactions with sediments. Correlations among the studied parameters indicate a significant role of zooplankton (particularly the brine shrimp) in controlling phytoplankton abundance. Laguna del Plata has typical estuary characteristics, including high variability in salt concentrations (13–63 g.L−1 ), high nutrient levels (0.48 mg P.L−1 ) (hypereutrophic) and higher phytoplankton biomass than the main lake. Mar Chiquita characteristics show interesting similarities with those recorded in the Great Salt Lake in the USA.
RAMSAR sites are determined by specific characteristics of the environment in terms of ecological productivity as well services for human development, but they are also one of the most threatened ecosystems. Thus, the objective of this work was to evaluate the dynamic of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in different biotic and abiotic matrixes of the RAMSAR site (wetlands with international importance), Mar Chiquita Lake. Sampling was performed according to land use (agricultural, urban, and...
#2Doyle W. Stephens(USGS: United States Geological Survey)H-Index: 9
Last. David V. Allen(USGS: United States Geological Survey)H-Index: 2
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Great Salt Lake (Utah, USA) is one of the world's largest hypersaline lakes, supporting many of the western U.S.'s migratory waterbirds. This unique ecosystem is threatened, but it and other large hypersaline lakes are not well understood. The ecosystem consists of two weakly linked food webs: one phytoplankton-based, the other organic particle/benthic algae-based. Seventeen years of data on the phytoplankton-based food web are presented: abundances of nutrients (N and P), phytoplankton (Chlorop...
To examine how salinity and nutrient supply interact to control phytoplankton community composition, nutrient limitation, and dinitrogen (N2) fixation rates in the Great Salt Lake (Utah, USA), we conducted a series of bioassay experiments with plankton from both Gilbert Bay, where salinities are near 160 g·L–1, and Farmington Bay, where salinities range from 10 to 90 g·L–1. Six-day nutrient addition bioassay experiments showed that the extant phyto plankton communities in both bays were limited ...
Summary Wurtsbaugh, W.A. and A.M. Marcarelli. 2006. Eutrophication in Farmington Bay, Great Salt Lake, Utah: 2005 Annual Report. Report to the Central Davis Sewer District, 90 pp. Phytoplankton, zooplankton, and other related limnological parameters were sampled at three or more sites in Farmington Bay and at three similarly shallow sites in Gilbert Bay from May through November 2005 to assess eutrophication and beneficial use attainment in Farmington Bay. Salinities in Farmington Bay ranged fro...
Historically, phosphorushasbeenconsideredto betheprimary nutrientlimiting phytoplanktongrowth in freshwater ecosystems. We tested this hypothesis in 19 Kansas reservoirs located within the Central Plains region, USA. Bioassay experiments were conducted to assess growth-rate limitation by nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and nitrogen and phosphorus (N and P). The addition of P alone rarely increased phytoplankton growth with only 8% of the total bioassay experiments indicating P-limitation. In contra...
A comprehensive, but simple-to-use software package for executing a range of standard numerical analysis and operations used in quantitative paleontology has been developed. The program, called PAST (PAleontological STatistics), runs on standard Windows computers and is available free of charge. PAST integrates spreadsheet-type data entry with univariate and multivariate statistics, curve fitting, timeseries analysis, data plotting, and simple phylogenetic analysis. Many of the functions are spe...
A microcosm experiment was conducted to assess the effects of salinity on coastal lagoon plankton assemblages. Five salinity levels were replicated four-fold in 3801 fiberglass tanks. Salinity levels used were 0, 8.5, 17, 34 and 51 ppt, or 0, 25, 50, 100 and 150 percent seawater. These were achieved by mixing concentrated lagoon water and tapwater in different proportions. Tanks were inoculated with plankton collected from San Dieguito Lagoon (Del Mar, San Diego County, California) and other fre...
During unusually wet years the salinity of the Great Salt Lake (Utah) decreased from above 100 g/L to 50 g/L. This allowed the predaceous insect Trichocorixa verticalis to invade the pelagic region of the lake and reach a mean summer density of 52/m3. Concurrent changes in the pelagic ecosystem were: a decrease in the dry biomass of the previously dominant filter-feeding brine shrimp Artemia franciscana from 720 to 2 mg/m3, the invasion of three other zooplankton taxa, a 10 × decrease in communi...
#1Xiaolang Zhang(HKU: University of Hong Kong)H-Index: 6
#2Hailong Li(Southern University of Science and Technology)H-Index: 29
Last. Xingxing Kuang(Southern University of Science and Technology)H-Index: 11
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Abstract Saline lakes are characterized by high salinity and limited biological diversity. The nutrient cycle directly determines biological diversity. Many factors including internal loading, riverine inflows, salinity, and/or anthropogenic activities affect the nutrient cycle in saline lakes. The Badain Jaran Desert (BJD) is featured by hyper-arid climate and by mega sand dune-lake landscapes. In this study, nutrients in groundwater and lake water in the BJD were analyzed to explore the contro...
Abstract The La Mancha Humeda Biosphere Reserve is the largest wetland district in the Iberian Peninsula, containing many temporary saline lakes undergoing different anthropogenic pressures. Eleven of these lakes were selected to assess phosphorus (P) burial, fractionation and mobilization in their sediments. Wastewater inputs, wherever they occurred, favored accumulation of all P sedimentary fractions, which took place mainly via precipitation with divalent cations (i.e. calcium or magnesium) a...
La Salada is a shallow saline lake located in the SW of the Pampas subject to significant water management, so the primary objective was to assess whether the water input and physicochemical parameters have an impact on the plankton assemblages over a two year period (2013–dry and 2014–wet). The plankton community structure and physicochemical variables showed substantial changes over the study period. La Salada hosted a plankton community characterized by low diversity and small sized organisms...