First attempt to apply whole-lake food-web manipulation on a large scale in The Netherlands

Lake Breukeleveen (180 ha, mean depth 1.45 m), a compartment of the eutrophic Loosdrecht lakes system, was selected to study the effects of whole-lake foodweb manipulation on a large scale. In Lake Loosdrecht (dominated by filamentous cyanobacteria), due to water management measures taken from 1970–1984 (sewerage systems, dephosphorization) the external P load has been reduced from 1.2 g m⁻² y⁻¹ to 0.35 g m⁻² y⁻¹. The water transparency (Secchi-depthca. 30 cm), however, has not improved. The aim of the food-web manipulation in Lake Breukeleveen was not only to improve the light climate of the lake, but also to study if the successfull effects observed in small lakes (a few ha) can be upscaled. In March 1989 the standing crop of planktivorous and bentivorous fish populations was reduced by intensive fishery, fromca. 150 kg ha⁻¹ toca. 57 kg ha⁻¹. The lake was made unaccessible to fish migrating from the other lakes and it was stocked with large-sized daphnids and 0⁺ pike. However, water transparency did not increase in the following summer and autumn 1989, which is in contrast with great improvement in the light conditions previously observed in smaller lakes. The main explanations for the negative outcome in Lake Breukeleveen are: 1) the rapid increase of the planktivorous fish biomass and carnivorous cladocerans, predating on the zooplankton community; 2) suppression of the large daphnids by the high concentrations of filamentous cyanobacteria; 3) high turbidity of the lake due to resuspension of bottom material induced by wind, unlike in smaller lakes, and thus inability of submerged macrophytes to develop and to stabilize the ecosystem.