Impact of acidification and eutrophication on macrophyte communities in soft waters in The Netherlands I. Field observations

During the last decades a strong decline has been noticed in the number of waters dominated by “Littorellion” species, mostly isoetids such as Lobelia dortmanna L., Isoetes lacustris L. and Littorella uniflora (L.) Aschers. Sixty-eight waters, which were known to be dominated by L. uniflora after 1950 were investigated. In 1980, L. uniflora appeared to be absent or to have strongly decreased in 53 (78%) of the waters. In 41 of them, Littorella had been replaced by submerged Juncus bulbosus L. and/or Sphagnum spp. These changes seem to have been caused by changed inorganic carbon budgets as a consequence of acidification.In the remaining 12 waters, eutrophication of the water and/or sediment seems to be responsible for the changes in the plant communities. Enrichment with phosphate of the mineral sediment alone, leads to luxurious growth of submerged, rooted macrophyte species such as Myriophyllum alterniflorum DC and Ranunculus peltatus Schrank, whereas phosphate-enrichment of both sediment and water leads to luxurious growth of pleustophytes such as Riccia fluitans L. and Lemna minor L. in small, shallow waters, and to plankton bloom and luxurious growth of epiphytes in larger, deeper waters.In these cases light limitation seems to be responsible for the disappearance or decline of the “Littorellion” species.     

Impact of acidification and eutrophication on the distribution of fish species in shallow and lentic soft waters of The Netherlands: an historical perspective

The species richness and composition of fish assemblages were examined in lentic soft waters in The Netherlands. The selected bodies of water reflected a large variation in geomorphological and limnological factors. In total, 24 fish species were encountered in Dutch soft waters. During 1983–1984 Esox lucius, Perca fluviatilis, Rutilus rutilus, Scardinius erythrophthalmus, Tinca tinca and Umbra pygmaea were quite common. In slightly acid and alkaline waters (pH≥5) Rutilus rutilus, Scardinius erythrophthalmus, Perca fluviatilis, Ictalurus nebulosus and Cyprinus carpio accounted for about 90% of the total number of specimens in the catches. Strongly acid waters (pH < 5) generally were fishless. If fish were present in these waters, however, the catches mainly consisted of Umbra pygmaea. Only in a few strongly acid systems were other species collected. The lowest pH at which certain fish species occurred varied from 3.1 to 7.0. In particular, Umbra pygmaea was extremely acid-tolerant. The percentage of waters which harboured fish as well as the average number offish species per water decreased steeply between pH 6 and 4. The sampled waters showed remarkable differences in their fish assemblages. With hierarchical classification, six groups of waters could be distinquished with respect to their fish fauna. The site groups are defined and characterized physico-chemically and their fish assemblages described. Multivariate analysis showed that the structure of fish communities is strongly related to the pH, the alkalinity, trophic level and the ionic composition of the water. Comparison of historical and recent data on the occurrence of fish strongly indicated that in many sampling sites fish species or even entire fish assemblages had disappeared. Ordination of available data also illustrated recent changes in community structure. At least 67% of the nowadays extremely acid waters formerly harboured fish populations. The impoverishment of fish communities or the total loss of fish were primarily caused by cultural acidification. Limited nutrient enrichment of soft waters only resulted in minor alterations of fish assemblages.     

Aquatic macrophyte communities as bioindicators of eutrophication in calcareous oligosaprobe stream waters (Upper Rhine plain,Alsace)

The results cover a statistical analysis of the correlations between aquatic macrophyte communities and chemical parameters (N–NH₄, N–NO₃, P–PO₄, COD, Temperature, dissolved O₂, Cl) in unpolluted hard waters (upper Rhine rift valley).This study was based on a table of phytosociological relevés for six plant communities, named A, B, C, CD, D and E. The ecological determinism of the communities were defined from: The study of the seven foregoing physico-chemical parameters for 29 groundwater streams on periodical samples of water. The study of the change with time in the aquatic vegetation after change of the trophic status, confirmed by analysis. The comparative study of the vegetation of the streams and parts of the streams with different trophic statuses but fed by the same groundwater table of the Wurmian Rhine gravels.Analysis of the main components showed the good correlation between the macrophyte communities and the trophy (N–NH₄, P–PO₄). These six communities were classified according to the trophic scale. Discriminant analysis was used to compare the classification of the phytosociological sequence with that based on the statistical analysis. The authors give a very precise bioindication scale (based on the macrophyte community) for the eutrophication degree in unpolluted hard waters.     

A reference system for continental running waters: plant communities as bioindicators of increasing eutrophication in alkaline and acidic waters in north-east France

Two bioindication scales of the degree of eutrophication based on aquatic macrophyte communities were established in two types of running waters free of organic matter, the one in acidic soft waters (pH 5.5–7.0, conductivity 40–110 S.cm^–1), the other in alkaline hard waters (pH 7–8, conductivity 500–900 S.cm^–1). We show that the main determining factor of the macrophyte distribution is the nutrient level (trophy), especially the level of phosphate and ammonia. The acidic scale, with increasing pH, includes four stages ranging from oligotrophic to eutrophic level (traces to 300 g.l^–1 N-NHinf4^p+ and P-PO₄ ^3–), while the alkaline scale at constant pH comprises six stages of a trophic gradient. For the most part, the floristic composition found in the two sequences is different and depends on conductivity and alkalinity variation. However, some species occur in the two scales and may reflect differences in the trophic level, depending on whether the waters are alkaline or acidic. This change of trophic level for these species is discussed.     

In vitro studies on sulphate reduction and acidification in sediments of shallow soft water lakes

SUMMARY. 1. The sulphate reduction capacity of six shallow soft water sediments, differing in pH and organic matter content, was studied under controlled pH adjustments ranging from pH 3 to pH 8.
2. In the acid sediments, relatively rich in organic matter, the sulphate reduction capacity reached values of 0.09-0.12 μmol g⁻¹ d⁻¹. In the circumneutral mineral sediments the values ranged between 0.04 and 0.08 μmol g⁻¹ d⁻¹.
3. The latter group of sediments was very sensitive to the effects of experimental acidification as sulphate reduction was almost fully inhibited when pH decreased from 7 to 5. In the acid sediments inhibition occurred at lower pH values, in the range pH 5 to pH 3.
4. Sulphate reduction governed the production of free sulphides, whereas putrefaction processes were only of minor importance. It is suggested that in acid sediments, relatively rich in organic matter, the sulphate reducing bacterial population is less sensitive to acidification than in circumneutral mineral sediments.
5. The presence of organic matter appeared to be important in counteracting the inhibiting effects of acidification on sulphate reduction. This is important for the in situ sulphate reduction in sediments of soft waters which become enriched with organic matter during the long-term process of acidification.     

Competition, survivorship and growth in macrophyte communities

SUMMARY. 1. Transplant experiments tested the proposition that the intensity of competition within macrophyte communities varies with standing crop in a freshwater marsh in Ontario, Canada.
2. Transplants of three species ( Carex lasiocarpa, Juncus brachycephalus, Scripus validus ) were grown at sixty-six locations chosen to represent a range of standing crop values. At each location, transplants were grown in plots with all neighbours removed and in adjacent plots with all neighbours present.
3. The effect of neighbours on transplant growth did not vary with standing crop, soil, or water depth, with the exception of one species which was most suppressed by neighbours in shallow water. In contrast, the effect of neighbours on the survivorship of transplants was greatest on organic soils supporting high values of standing crop in shallow water, and least on mineral soils supporting low values of standing crop in deeper water.
4. The results indicated that establishment and survivorship of vegetative propagules was most likely to be affected by neighbours in shallow water, but that the growth of established plants was not influenced by neighbours anywhere. Growth results corroborate earlier findings that competition has little effect on aquatic macrophytes.     

Recovery of lake vegetation following reduced eutrophication and acidification

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不同类型水生植物群落对蓝绿藻类的抑制作用

选择2种常见水生植物荇菜(Nymphoides peltatum)和黑藻(Hydrilla verticillata),构建了荇菜群落(浮叶植物群落)、黑藻群落(沉水植物群落)和荇菜-黑藻群落(复合群落)等3种不同类型水生植物群落,在模拟富营养化水体环境条件下与自然水体中藻类共培养,研究了不同类型水生植物群落对藻类的抑制作用.结果表明:1)3种群落对水体中藻类的抑制作用顺序为荇菜群落>复合群落>黑藻群落,实验结束时水体叶绿素a分别减少了63.1%、44.7%、3.3%.2)荇菜群落中蓝藻受到了较强抑制作用,其总藻细胞密度比初始减少了99.5%;而绿藻总藻细胞密度则比初始增加了31.6%;黑藻群落中蓝藻仍保持较高生物量,绿藻藻细胞密度一直处于较低水平;复合群落对蓝绿藻均有很好的抑制效果,蓝藻藻细胞密度比初始下降了95.9%,绿藻藻细胞密度始终保持在较低水平.3)3种群落中藻类组成变化不同:荇菜群落中初始以微囊藻、色球藻等蓝藻门植物为优势种,逐渐转变为以小球藻、栅藻、四角藻等绿藻门植物为优势种;黑藻群落中藻类一直以微囊藻为优势种,伴生有少量的小球藻属、栅藻属、隐藻属藻种;复合群落水体中藻类组成与荇菜群落中藻类变化相似,实验期间微囊藻数量逐渐减少,而栅藻数量逐渐升高.4)不同群落中植物生物量增加明显,荇菜和黑藻的鲜重在单种群落和复合群落中均具有较高的增长率,分别为129.8%、63.6%和108.8%、66.5%;植物生长对光照、温度、pH等环境因子具有明显的调节作用,荇菜群落中水下20 cm处光衰减率与水体叶绿素a显著相关,说明荇菜的遮光作用是其产生显著抑藻作用的重要原因.     

Experimental studies in human tooth wear. II

Studies of human tooth wear have been carried on for the past two years using a machine designed to approximate human chewing motions. During this time wear patterns that resemble those frequently found on the teeth of various American Indian skulls have been produced on casts of the definition. Noticeably among these patterns produced are examples of wear on the front end of the dental arches that result in an edge to edge bite. This type of wear was produced by wearing down casts of a modern dentition with a “normal” overbite. The forces applied to the casts mounted on the machine are variable over a wide range and numerous force combinations are possible. By noting these forces and the resulting vectors, the motions necessary to produce different wear patterns can be determined. This has especially aided in understanding the ways in which the oblique molar wear is produced.     

The diversity of macro invertebrate and macrophyte communities in ponds

SUMMARY 1. The range of factors which may influence the wide variation in the structure of pond communities is reviewed.
2. Factors explaining the variation in numbers of macro invertebrate and macrophyte taxa are investigated, using multiple regression analysis, for a group of ponds in which biogeographical effects are likely to be minimal.
3. Numbers of macro invertebrate taxa in these ponds are highly correlated with pH and probably, therefore, with other associated aspects of water chemistry,
4. Many invertebrate taxa, from species to entire phyla, were not found below pH 5.5, but few characteristically'acidophilic'taxa were apparent.
5. Details of species composition of the macro invertebrate fauna differ widely even between ponds of similar pH.
6. The diversity and composition of macrophyte communities are not adequately predicted by any of the factors investigated.     

Ecology and management of moorland pools: balancing acidification and eutrophication

Moorland pools originally are shallow, often hydrologically isolated, soft-water bodies, with a low productivity. Some thousands of moorland pools originated from the late Pleistocene onwards in the heathland landscape in The Netherlands and adjacent areas, where soils have a poor buffering capacity. As the pools are largely fed by atmospheric precipitation, they are very vulnerable to changes in the environment, e.g. eutrophication and acidification. Moorland pools are exposed to very high rates of wet atmospheric deposition: 44–50 mmol m⁻² yr⁻¹ sulphate and 84–103 mmol m ⁻² yr⁻¹ ammonium. Mass budgets indicate that 20–70% of the input of sulphate by precipitation is reduced, 40–100% of the ammonium input escapes to the air or sediments, apparently due to nitrification, and 90–100% of incoming nitrate disappears. The production of alkalinity ranges from 12 to 52 meq m⁻² yr⁻¹. The efficiency of these processes augments with pH-values of surface water increasing from 4.1 to 5.4. The accumulation of reduced sulphur compounds in the sediments is a threat in extremely dry summers, when desiccation causes oxydation of these compounds, resulting in very low pH-values (≤ 3.7). Acidification by acid atmospheric deposition and eutrophication by agricultural acidification are the main threats to the moorland pool ecosystems and affect the species composition of assemblages of aquatic macrophytes, desmids, diatoms, macrofauna, fishes and amphibians, as has been shown by comparison of old and recent records on their distribution and paleolimnological methods. Afforestation exacerbates acidification and also reduces wind dynamics. Particularly the decrease of isoetids and desmids by both processes indicate the biological impoverishment of the pools. Reductions of (potential) acid atmospheric deposition to less than 40 mmol m⁻² yr and of ammonia to less than 30 mmol m⁻² yr are necessary for recovery of the moorland pools. Methods for the addition of buffering material to a number of moorland pools, to counteract acidification until these deposition rates have lowered sufficiently, are given, as well as other methods for restoring the biological quality of moorland pools.     

Effects of Spirogyra arcta on biomass and structure of submerged macrophyte communities

The presence of algae can greatly reduce the amount of light that reaches submerged macrophytes, but few experimental studies have been conducted to examine the effects of algae on biomass and structure of submerged macrophyte communities. We constructed communities with four submerged macrophytes (Hydrilla verticillata, Egeria densa, Ceratophyllum demersum, and Chara vulgaris) in three environments in which 0 (control), 50 and 100% of the water surface was covered by Spirogyra arcta. Compared to the control treatment, the 100% spirogyra treatment decreased biomass of the submerged macrophyte communities and of all the four macrophytes except C. demersum. Compared to the control and 50% treatments, the 100% treatment significantly increased relative abundance of C. demersum and decreased that of E. densa. Therefore, the presence of S. arcta can greatly affect the productivity and alter the structure of submerged macrophyte communities. To restore submerged macrophyte communities in conditions with abundant algae, assembling communities consisting of C. demersum or similar species may be a good practice.     

Decline in growth of foraminifer Marginopora rossi under eutrophication and ocean acidification scenarios

The combination of global and local stressors is leading to a decline in coral reef health globally. In the case of eutrophication, increased concentrations of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) and phosphorus (DIP) are largely attributed to local land use changes. From the global perspective, increased atmospheric CO₂ levels are not only contributing to global warming but also ocean acidification (OA). Both eutrophication and OA have serious implications for calcium carbonate production and dissolution among calcifying organisms. In particular, benthic foraminifera precipitate the most soluble form of mineral calcium carbonate (high‐Mg calcite), potentially making them more sensitive to dissolution. In this study, a manipulative orthogonal two‐factor experiment was conducted to test the effects of dissolved inorganic nutrients and OA on the growth, respiration and photophysiology of the large photosymbiont‐bearing benthic foraminifer, Marginopora rossi. This study found the growth rate of M. rossi was inhibited by the interaction of eutrophication and acidification. The relationship between M. rossi and its photosymbionts became destabilized due to the photosymbiont's release from nutrient limitation in the nitrate‐enriched treatment, as shown by an increase in zooxanthellae cells per host surface area. Foraminifers from the OA treatments had an increased amount of Chl a per cell, suggesting a greater potential to harvest light energy, however, there was no net benefit to the foraminifer growth. Overall, this study demonstrates that the impacts of OA and eutrophication are dose dependent and interactive. This research indicates an OA threshold at pH 7.6, alone or in combination with eutrophication, will lead to a decline in M. rossi calcification. The decline in foraminifera calcification associated with pollution and OA will have broad ecological implications across their ubiquitous range and suggests that without mitigation it could have serious implications for the future of coral reefs.     

Impacts of sediment type on the performance and composition of submerged macrophyte communities

To restore deteriorated lake ecosystems, it is important to identify environmental factors that influence submerged macrophyte communities. While sediment is a critical environmental factor for submerged macrophytes and many studies have examined effects of sediment type on the growth of individual submerged macrophytes, very few have tested how sediment type affects the growth and species composition of submerged macrophyte communities. We constructed submerged macrophyte communities containing four co-occurring submerged macrophytes (Hydrilla verticillata, Myriophyllum spicatum, Ceratophyllum demersum and Chara fragilis) and subjected them to three sediment treatments, i.e., clay, a mixture of clay and quartz sand at a volume ratio of 1:1 and a mixture at a volume ratio of 1:4. Compared to the clay, the 1:1 mixture treatment greatly increased overall biomass, number of shoot nodes and shoot length of the community, but decreased its diversity. This was because it substantially promoted the growth of H. verticillata within the community, making it the most abundant species in the mixture sediment, but decreased that of M. spicatum and C. demersum. The sediment type had no significant effects on the growth of C. fragilis. As a primary nutrient source for plant growth, sediment type can have differential effects on various submerged macrophyte species and 1:1 mixture treatment could enhance the performance of the communities, increasing the overall biomass, number of shoot nodes and shoot length by 39.03%, 150.13% and 9.94%, respectively, compared to the clay treatment. Thus, measures should be taken to mediate the sediment condition to restore submerged macrophyte communities with different dominant species.