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Littoral macroinvertebrates of acidified lakes in the Bohemian Forest

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Abstract

Mountain lakes in the Bohemian Forest, on both the Czech and German sides, were atmospherically acidified mainly in the 1960s–1980s and have since been recovering from acidification. In 2007, we performed the first complete study on littoral macroinvertebrates in all eight lakes. The goals of the study were to 1) compare macroinvertebrates in the lakes during the process of recovery and 2) investigate relations between the occurrence of taxa and water chemistry. Lake water pH varied from 4.6 to 5.7, concentrations of dissolved reactive Al and labile Al ranged from 118–601 and 11–470 μg L−1, respectively, and DOC concentrations were < 6 mg L−1. Altogether 73 taxa were identified from all lakes; a positive relationship was found between pH and the number of macroinvertebrate taxa. The highest number of taxa was found in the least acidic lakes Laka and Grosser Arbersee, including the mollusk Pisidium casertanum. In contrast, the lowest diversity was found in the most acidified Čertovo jezero. Cluster analyses of macroinvertebrates and water chemistry suggested pH as the key factor influencing the occurrence of macroinvertebrate taxa. An interesting finding was the occurrence of the boreo-montane water beetle Nebrioporus assimilis in Prášilské record of this species in the Czech Republic since 1960.

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Abbreviations

ANC :

acid neutralizing capacity

DOC :

dissolved organic carbon

L-Al :

labile aluminium

N-Al :

non-labile aluminium

R-Al :

reactive aluminium

TP :

total phosphorus

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Environmental Studies, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Benátská 2, 128 01, Prague, Czech Republic

    Lenka Ungermanová, Kateřina Kolaříková, Evžen Stuchlík, Takaaki Senoo, Jakub Horecký & Jolana Tátosová

  2. Biology Centre ASCR, Institute of Hydrobiology, Na Sádkách 7, 37005, Českě Budějovice, Czech Republic

    Jiří Kopáček

  3. Department of Entomology, National Museum, Kunratice 1, 148 00, Prague, Czech Republic

    Pavel Chvojka

  4. Faculty of Science, Matthias Belius University, Tajovského 40, 974 01, Banská Bystrica, Slovakia

    Peter Bitušík

  5. Uni Research, Uni Environment, Thormöhlensgt. 49 B, 5006, Bergen, Norway

    Arne Fjellheim

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  1. Lenka Ungermanová
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  2. Kateřina Kolaříková
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  3. Evžen Stuchlík
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  9. Peter Bitušík
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  10. Arne Fjellheim
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Correspondence to Kateřina Kolaříková.

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Ungermanová, L., Kolaříková, K., Stuchlík, E. et al. Littoral macroinvertebrates of acidified lakes in the Bohemian Forest. Biologia 69, 1190–1201 (2014). https://doi.org/10.2478/s11756-014-0420-6

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