Abstract
The Project on the Water Quality Research in the Loosdrecht Lakes (WQL) has come up to the expectations of the Netherlands Environment Ministry. The results reaffirm the main lines of national eutrophication policy drawn up in 1979 (Policy Document on Phosphates) and further developed in the eighties. Interesting new insights have been gained, for example into the role of sediment and seston as well as into the relative importance of trophic levels. It is not possible, however, to definitely establish the effect of WQL on eutrophication policy.
The Loosdrecht project is an example of genuine ecological research, incorporating several disciplines, placing the object of research into its surroundings, emphasising the relation nature-culture and committing itself to certain value judgements and policy choices. As a consequence, there is a striking resemblance between the evolution of the project itself and that of ecosystems.
All in all the Loosdrecht project should be regarded as a paradigm for future ecosystem studies.
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Kroes, H.W. The significance of the Loosdrecht lakes research project for eutrophication policy in The Netherlands. Hydrobiologia 233, 165–170 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00016104
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00016104