Grazing Potential—A Functional Plankton Food Web Metric for Ecological Water Quality Assessment in Mediterranean Lakes
Grazing potential (GP, in % day<sup>−1</sup>) was estimated for the plankton communities of 13 Greek lakes covering the trophic spectrum, in order to examine its sensitiveness in discriminating different classes of ecological water quality. Lakes with high GP values exhibited h...
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doaj-c7338de7d5fe44599172fe3e823c8f032020-11-24T23:55:37ZengMDPI AGWater2073-44412019-06-01116127410.3390/w11061274w11061274Grazing Potential—A Functional Plankton Food Web Metric for Ecological Water Quality Assessment in Mediterranean LakesGeorgia Stamou0Matina Katsiapi1Maria Moustaka-Gouni2Evangelia Michaloudi3Department of Zoology, School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, GreeceEYATH SA, Water Supply Division/Drinking Water Treatment Facility, Nea Ionia, 57008 Thessaloniki, GreeceDepartment of Botany, School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, GreeceDepartment of Zoology, School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, GreeceGrazing potential (GP, in % day<sup>−1</sup>) was estimated for the plankton communities of 13 Greek lakes covering the trophic spectrum, in order to examine its sensitiveness in discriminating different classes of ecological water quality. Lakes with high GP values exhibited high zooplankton biomass dominated by large cladocerans or/and calanoids while lakes with low GP values had increased phytoplankton biomass and/or domination of small-bodied zooplankton indicating intensive fish predation. GP successfully distinguished among ecological water quality classes (estimated using the phytoplankton water quality index PhyCoI) indicating its potential use as a metric for ecological water quality assessment. As a next step, PhyCoI index was modified to include GP as a metric in order to enhance the phytoplankton-based ecological status classification of lakes incorporating zooplankton as a supporting factor. The PhyCoI<sub>GP</sub> successfully assessed the ecological water quality in accordance with PhyCoI classification whereas it was significantly correlated with the eutrophication proxy TSI<sub>SD</sub> based on Secchi Depth. Thus, we propose to use the modified phytoplankton index PhyCoI<sub>GP</sub> for monitoring the ecological water quality of lakes.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/11/6/1274grazing potentialGreek lakesecological water qualityPhyCoIPhyCoI<sub>GP</sub>phytoplanktonzooplankton |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Georgia Stamou Matina Katsiapi Maria Moustaka-Gouni Evangelia Michaloudi |
spellingShingle |
Georgia Stamou Matina Katsiapi Maria Moustaka-Gouni Evangelia Michaloudi Grazing Potential—A Functional Plankton Food Web Metric for Ecological Water Quality Assessment in Mediterranean Lakes Water grazing potential Greek lakes ecological water quality PhyCoI PhyCoI<sub>GP</sub> phytoplankton zooplankton |
author_facet |
Georgia Stamou Matina Katsiapi Maria Moustaka-Gouni Evangelia Michaloudi |
author_sort |
Georgia Stamou |
title |
Grazing Potential—A Functional Plankton Food Web Metric for Ecological Water Quality Assessment in Mediterranean Lakes |
title_short |
Grazing Potential—A Functional Plankton Food Web Metric for Ecological Water Quality Assessment in Mediterranean Lakes |
title_full |
Grazing Potential—A Functional Plankton Food Web Metric for Ecological Water Quality Assessment in Mediterranean Lakes |
title_fullStr |
Grazing Potential—A Functional Plankton Food Web Metric for Ecological Water Quality Assessment in Mediterranean Lakes |
title_full_unstemmed |
Grazing Potential—A Functional Plankton Food Web Metric for Ecological Water Quality Assessment in Mediterranean Lakes |
title_sort |
grazing potential—a functional plankton food web metric for ecological water quality assessment in mediterranean lakes |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Water |
issn |
2073-4441 |
publishDate |
2019-06-01 |
description |
Grazing potential (GP, in % day<sup>−1</sup>) was estimated for the plankton communities of 13 Greek lakes covering the trophic spectrum, in order to examine its sensitiveness in discriminating different classes of ecological water quality. Lakes with high GP values exhibited high zooplankton biomass dominated by large cladocerans or/and calanoids while lakes with low GP values had increased phytoplankton biomass and/or domination of small-bodied zooplankton indicating intensive fish predation. GP successfully distinguished among ecological water quality classes (estimated using the phytoplankton water quality index PhyCoI) indicating its potential use as a metric for ecological water quality assessment. As a next step, PhyCoI index was modified to include GP as a metric in order to enhance the phytoplankton-based ecological status classification of lakes incorporating zooplankton as a supporting factor. The PhyCoI<sub>GP</sub> successfully assessed the ecological water quality in accordance with PhyCoI classification whereas it was significantly correlated with the eutrophication proxy TSI<sub>SD</sub> based on Secchi Depth. Thus, we propose to use the modified phytoplankton index PhyCoI<sub>GP</sub> for monitoring the ecological water quality of lakes. |
topic |
grazing potential Greek lakes ecological water quality PhyCoI PhyCoI<sub>GP</sub> phytoplankton zooplankton |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/11/6/1274 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT georgiastamou grazingpotentialafunctionalplanktonfoodwebmetricforecologicalwaterqualityassessmentinmediterraneanlakes AT matinakatsiapi grazingpotentialafunctionalplanktonfoodwebmetricforecologicalwaterqualityassessmentinmediterraneanlakes AT mariamoustakagouni grazingpotentialafunctionalplanktonfoodwebmetricforecologicalwaterqualityassessmentinmediterraneanlakes AT evangeliamichaloudi grazingpotentialafunctionalplanktonfoodwebmetricforecologicalwaterqualityassessmentinmediterraneanlakes |
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