Morphological variation of Keratella cochlearis (Gosse) in Lake Biwa,Japan

The length of the lorica (LL) of Keratella cochlearis cochlearis and of K. cochlearis tecta and the length of posterior spine (PSL) of the latter morphotype were measured in the strongly eutrophic basin and also in the mesotrophic basin of Lake Biwa, Japan, from September to December, 1980. In the population from the mesotrophic basin, the individuals with longer PSL prevail and the tecta forms are extremely rare. The LL values of both morphotypes from one sample do not differ. In December the LL increased to 95 µm in both morphotypes from 80 µm observed in September, while the PSL values decreased abrubtly in both basins in the middle of this period. It is suggested that the observed increase of LL could be related to the thermic factor, i.e. a steady decrease of water temperature, and the changes of PSL are correlated with the increase of nannoplankton and detritus aggregates noted in November. In this month an increase in fecundity and in the total numbers of rotifers took place as well (Hillbricht-Ilkowska, in press).     

The dynamics and retention of phosphorus in lentic and lotic patches of two river-lake systems

Two river-lake systems in a mosaic, lowland postglacial landscape (Masurian and Suwalskie Lakelands, northeastern Poland) of different length and flow were studied. The concentration of total and dissolved phosphorus (in water and in seston) and the retention of these two forms of P were analysed at several hydrological occasions in lakes of various morphometry and trophy, and in several stream fragments. The concentration and retention is equally highly variable in lake (lentic patches) and stream fragments (lotic patches) of the system. The polluted stream fragments at all occassions as well as the lakes in summer, are mainly exporting phoshorus. The patches which act as sources occur alternatively with patches which are P-sinks. This makes the whole system more or less balanced with respect to P movement in the landscape.     

Diel phytoplankton periodicity in Mikołajskie lake,Poland, as determined by different methods in parallel

Photosynthetic rates as measured by the oxygen light and dark bottle method were highly correlated with estimates using the ¹⁴C technique. The high O₂/¹⁴C ratios found are explained by algal respiration and extracellular release which are included in photosynthetic measurements by the oxygen technique, while the ¹⁴C method yields values close to net photosynthesis. Separation of net- and nannoplankton using a 50 μm plankton net for filtration was not comparable to distinctions made by microscopic examination. Separation of both by filtration caused a significant decrease in the photosynthetic activity of nannoplankton in 24-hour incubations, but had no detectable effect after 4 hours of exposure. “Bottle effects” in 24-hour measurements of photosynthesis were similar using both methods. Asymmetric photosynthetic time-curves as well as vertical phytoplankton migrations were the main reasons for errors in estimates of daily photosynthetic rates from part-day incubations which were extrapolated to the entire day.     

Effect of Thermal Effluents and Retention Time on Lake Functioning and Ecological Efficiencies in Plankton Communities

The following changes were observed in three lakes as a result of their heating and decrease of retention time (data for summer periods): increase of mixing rate, active bottom area, and nutrients (P_inorg., N_inorg.) concentrations; significant changes in gross primary production, phytoplankton biomass and production of filtering cladocerans. These changes seem to indicate the higher efficiency of utilization of autochthonous trophic resources and energy transfer in plankton.     

Sensitivity of Lakes to Inorganic Enrichment Stress - Some Results of Experimentally Induced Fertilization

The introduction of P and N loads exceeding 4-14 and 1-2 times, respectively, the amount of these nutrients stored in the waters of four lakes (dystrophic and eutrophic, stratified and unstratified) resulted in stronger, two-phased changes in P_tot standing stock and in rather insignificant and non-directed changes in N_tot in all lakes. In the waters there was the immediate increase of P_tot followed by a decrease (together with a decrease in the N : P ratio) but the final level was still higher than in the control. In the top layer of off-littoral sediments there was a temporary accumulation of nutrients followed by their release to a level significantly lower than that in the control year. Visible changes in the nutrient content and total biomass of above-ground parts of macrophytes were noted only in the lake which was previously highly dystrophic, after it had been limed. This lake reacted strongest to the P load, and the release of nutrients from its deposits started simultaneously with fertilization. It is hypothesized that the reduction in the N : P ratio in the lake waters was mainly responsible for the lack of assimilation of further doses of P and that the acceleration of denitrification process caused by the higher overall lake productivity was responsible for the stabilization and removal of the N load. The activation of bacterial decomposition in the sediments due to the increase in lake productivity and sedimentation rate was considered as the probable reason for the acceleration of the nutrients release from the top layers of the sediments and their further physical transport to deeper layers.     

One hundred years of Polish rotiferology — scientists and their work

Polish scientific publications concerning rotifers are recorded and discussed. They contain about 320 papers published in 1947–1993, and about 120 papers for the period 1758–1939, listed by Harring in his Synopsis (1913) and later by Wiszniewski (1954). The papers of Wierzejski (published mainly in 1893) mark a century of advanced rotifer studies in Poland. The work of Wiszniewski on psammon (published in 1933–1938) and on parasitic rotifers (1939, 1948, 1953) is presented in detail, as well as the papers of Pawlowski (published in 1934–1980). A number of contemporary Polish rotifer publications and their distribution by habitat studied, as well as selected results, are discussed.     

Factors Responsible for Retarding the Eutrophication Rate of Some Mesotrophic Lowland Lakes in N.E. Poland

The chemical composition of watershed waters supplying 13 mesotrophic lakes (in N.E. Poland) including as the deepest lake L. Hańcza, z = 108.5 m (summer total phosphorus [TP] content ≤0.050 mg · 1⁻¹, chlorophyll a ≤5μg · 1⁻¹, SD≥2.5 m) in a typical postglacial lake district (Suwalski Landscape Park) as well as surface and bottom waters of the lakes were studied in summer. Although the underestimated (i.e. including only surface runoff, river inflows and precipitation) yearly TP loading is equal to or higher than the permissible value, the lakes have maintained their mesotrophic features for 20 to 30 years. P sorption to the allochthonous inorganic material as well as decalcification processes in the lakes are probably responsible for this situation, as there is a strong difference between the chemical content of supplying waters and lake waters and as there is a considerable enrichment of P on sestonic particles. As a consequence of the low bio-availability of P, the midsummer amount of chlorophyll a is lower than predicted from the “TP—chlorophyll-a” relation found for harmoniously eutrophicating (i.e. P-limited) lakes.