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Ecological response of a shallow boreal lake to biomanipulation and catchment land-use: integrating paleolimnological evidence with information from limnological surveys and maps

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Abstract

We reconstructed 150 years of ecological change in a shallow boreal lake located on the east shore of the Baltic Sea by integrating different types of environmental evidence: paleolimnological records (XRF-measured elements, fossil pigments and Cladocera assemblages), information from historical limnological surveys and archival maps. We assessed the role of biomanipulation by liming and fish-removal in the disappearance of submerged macrophytes, such as Lobelia dortmanna L., and their replacement by persistent cyanobacterial blooms. The combination of different strands of evidence revealed that the shift from macrophyte to cyanobacterial dominance was part of a long-term ecological response to eutrophication and increased sediment load from catchment disturbances. The findings demonstrate that a gradual loss of wetlands and increase of ditches in a catchment had a more significant effect on the lake ecosystem, compared to the direct, but short-term impact of biomanipulation. The study highlights the importance of catchment land-use and disturbance by ditches in changing the ecology of boreal water bodies. Also, it illustrates that a thorough understanding of the long-term ecosystem dynamics and differentiation among responses to multiple anthropogenic impacts are essential preconditions for addressing the deterioration of habitats and change in aquatic environments.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Estonian Doctoral School of Earth Sciences and Ecology, the Centre of Excellence “Studies of natural and man-made environments” at Tallinn University and the Estonian Science Foundation under grant 8189. We are very grateful to John F. Boyle, Prof. Krystyna Szeroczyńska, Gennady V. Laptev, Prof. Peter G. Appleby and Prof. Kenneth L. Verosub whose comments greatly improved this manuscript. Also, we would like to thank to Jaanus Terasmaa, Tarmo Kiipli, Toivo Kallaste and René Freiberg for their excellent help with sedimentological analyses. Two anonymous reviewers helped to improve the final version of the manuscript.

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  1. Institute of Ecology, School of Natural Sciences and Health, Tallinn University, Uus-Sadama 5, 10120, Tallinn, Estonia

    Agáta Marzecová, Egle Avi, Annika Mikomägi & Tiiu Koff

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  1. Agáta Marzecová
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Correspondence to Agáta Marzecová.

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Marzecová, A., Avi, E., Mikomägi, A. et al. Ecological response of a shallow boreal lake to biomanipulation and catchment land-use: integrating paleolimnological evidence with information from limnological surveys and maps. J Paleolimnol 57, 1–18 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-016-9906-2

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