History of Mine Drainage Impact on Lake Orijärvi Algal Communities, SW Finland

The Cu (Pb, Zn) mine of Orijärvi (1757–1956) was the first mining operation in Finland where flotation techniques (1911–1955) were used to enrich ore. Large quantities of tailings were produced. The impacts of past mining activities on the aquatic ecosystem of nearby Lake Orijärvi were studied using a combination of paleolimnological methods (analysis of sedimentary diatom frustules, chrysophycean cysts, metal concentrations and radiometric datings). The acid mine drainage (AMD) – derived metal impact to the lake was found to be the strongest thus far recorded in Finland. Concentrations of Cu, Pb and Zn in sediments are two to three orders of magnitude higher than background values. During the most severe loading phase, there were practically no algae in the lake. Achnanthes  minutissima was the hardiest species able to tolerate increased metal contents. The metal load has changed the properties of sediments in such a way that chrysophycean cysts were impossible to identify because of coating and corrosion. Lake water still has elevated heavy metal concentrations, indicating that the impact from the tailings area continues to affect the lake. It has low productivity, and the planktic diatom community is still not developed. The study demonstrates that unremediated mining areas form a major risk to the environment. The damage to aquatic ecosystem can remain severe for decades after the mining activities have ceased.     

Water quality changes in Lake McKenzie,Fraser Island,Australia: a Palaeolimnological approach

Surface water resources are highly valued for their ecological services and functions. However, their quality is under threat from anthropogenic activities and climate change. A detailed understanding of natural aquatic conditions and variability is rare. This is particularly the case in Australia where the variable climate produces significant ecological changes within natural thresholds and few long-term environmental data sets exist. Palaeoecology represents a means to identify natural fluctuations of aquatic ecosystems and provide long-term data for effective environmental management. This study uses a palaeoecological approach to identify biological and sediment changes in Lake McKenzie, Fraser Island, Australia. A sediment core was extracted from the lake and the fossil diatom assemblage and sediment particle size analysed. Inferred environmental changes were detected throughout the core that pre-date European impacts. The likely causes of these changes are climatic oscillations. Further dating is required to establish a detailed chronological record and identify the timing of detected environmental change at Lake McKenzie.     

Palaeoecological tools for improving the management of coastal ecosystems: a case study from Lake King (Gippsland Lakes) Australia

Since European settlement began over 200 years ago, many southeast Australian coastal lakes and lagoons have experienced substantial human impacts, including nutrient enrichment. Present day management and conservation efforts are often hampered by a lack of data on pre-impact conditions. We used a palaeoecological approach at Lake King, Gippsland Lakes, southeast Australia in order to determine its pre-impact condition and to establish the nature and direction of subsequent environmental changes, including responses to the construction of a permanent entrance to the sea in 1889. A 120 cm sediment core was analysed for diatoms, chlorophyll a, total carbon, nitrogen and sulphur, and dated using ²¹⁰Pb. Past phosphate and salinity concentrations were reconstructed using diatom-phosphate and diatom-salinity transfer functions developed from a calibration set based on 53 sites from 14 southeast Australian coastal lakes and lagoons. Results show changes in the diatom assemblage that record a shift from a brackish-water to marine diatom flora since construction of the permanent entrance. Phosphate concentrations increased at the same time and experienced major peaks in the 1940s and 1950s to >100 μg/l. Chlorophyll a concentrations were generally below 24 μg/l/gTOC in the core, but there has been a clear increase since the 1980s, peaking at 120 μg/l/gTOC, likely associated with a recorded increase in the frequency of nuisance algal blooms. These results indicate that the Lake King environment is now very different to that present during early European settlement. We conclude that by identifying the nature and direction of environmental change, palaeoecological studies can contribute towards developing realistic and well-informed management, conservation and restoration strategies in Australian coastal ecosystems.     

Results from a Multi-disciplinary Sedimentary Pilot Study of Tectonic Lake Iznik (NW Turkey) – Geochemistry and Paleolimnology of the Recent Past

A limnogeological reconnaissance study was carried out on Lake Iznik, located in the southeast of the Marmara region of Turkey, involving a seismic survey and collection of short sediment cores. This lake is located on the middle branch of the North Anatolian Fault Zone (NAFZ), a transform plate boundary between the Eurasian and Anatolian Plates. It is, therefore, tectonically active and offers an opportunity to investigate the interplay of sedimentary and seismo-tectonic processes, as well as climate change and human impact in the region. Short cores of the three sub-basins, maximum length of 35.5 cm, recovered non-laminated, blackish clays and silts with varying amounts of biogenic and minerogenic (allochthonous, autochthonous) material, which documented almost the last 80 years of deposition and environmental history. High sedimentation rates in the deeper core sections are accompanied by changes in land use (conversion of woodland to farmland) in the northern areas of Lake Iznik, which caused the deposition of more weathered material (high K/Na ratios) and higher contents of Mn in the lake. A tendency towards eutrophic conditions within the last 20 years is indicated by high nutrient content (N, TOC, P), decreasing C/N-ratios, and characteristic diatom and cladoceran associations. Also increased pollution is revealed by higher Pb, Cu, and Zn contents and increased supply of human and animal faeces (high coprostanol content) during the last two decades. But simultaneous lower sedimentation rates towards the core tops complicate the reconstruction of recent and past eutrophication and pollution states of Lake Iznik. This requires an extension of the pilot study and deeper sediment cores, to recover non-anthropogenic influenced sediment levels.     

Multi-core investigation of a lotic bay of Lake of the Woods (Minnesota,USA) impacted by cultural development

The freshwater Zippel Bay (Minnesota, USA), from its headwaters to its outlet on Lake of the Woods, a larger lake, was identified as a degraded system because of augmented nutrient and sediment loads, and for low oxygen affecting aquatic life. Anthropogenic impacts were purportedly from stressors including agriculture, urban development and hydrologic modifications, so paleolimnology using multiple indicators was employed in the bay and its two primary tributaries to characterize long-term trends since European settlement of the region. Isotope analyses of the sediment cores indicated notable shifts in sedimentation rates in response to human activities, and the application of a new diatom-based nutrient model to fossil diatom assemblages indicated that phosphorus levels have approximately doubled over the last ∼150 years. While Zippel Bay appears to be naturally eutrophic, increased nutrient loads have resulted in significant algal blooms, particularly during late summer. The multiple-core approach revealed that anthropogenic activities upgradient of the two tributaries varied in their contributions to aquatic degradation in Zippel Bay, and that despite the close proximity of the cores, there has been notable spatial variation in water quality. This research also further validates the application of traditional freshwater paleolimnological methods to lotic systems with sufficient sedimentary regimes. This study has important implications for Zippel Bay as it quantifies the extent of limnological impacts and underlines the need for remediation.     

Observations on the diagenetic behaviour of arsenic in a saline lake: Pyramid Lake,Nevada

We present, to our knowledge, the first dissolved arsenic (As) data from the pore waters of a closed-basin, saline lake, Pyramid Lake, USA. The As concentrations first decrease across the sediment-water interface to values below lake water concentrations and then rapidly increase to values as high as 5.85mol L^–1 at a depth of 15 cm. This maximum value is reached at the top of the sulfate reduction zone. The profile suggests that As is remobilized in the suboxic and anoxic zones of the sediments and is reprecipitated near the sediment-water interface under oxic conditions.     

Seasonal variability of Holocene climate: a palaeolimnological study on varved sediments in Lake Jues (Harz Mountains, Germany)

Studies combining sedimentological and biological evidence to reconstruct Holocene climate beyond the major changes, and especially seasonality, are rare in Europe, and are nearly completely absent in Germany. The present study tries to reconstruct changes of seasonality from evidence of annual algal successions within the framework of well-established pollen zonation and ¹⁴C-AMS dates from terrestrial plants. Laminated Holocene sediments in Lake Jues (10°20.7′ E, 51°39.3′ N, 241 m a.s.l.), located at the SW margin of the Harz Mountains, central Germany, were studied for sediment characteristics, pollen, diatoms and coccal green algae. An age model is based on 21 calibrated AMS radiocarbon dates from terrestrial plants. The sedimentary record covers the entire Holocene period. Trophic status and circulation/stagnation patterns of the lake were inferred from algal assemblages, the subannual structure of varves and the physico-chemical properties of the sediment. During the Holocene, mixing conditions alternated between di-, oligo- and meromictic depending on length and variability of spring and fall periods, and the stability of winter and summer weather. The trophic state was controlled by nutrient input, circulation patterns and the temperature-dependent rates of organic production and mineralization. Climate shifts, mainly in phase with those recorded from other European regions, are inferred from changing limnological conditions and terrestrial vegetation. Significant changes occurred at 11,600 cal. yr. BP (Preboreal warming), between 10,600 and 10,100 cal. yr. BP (Boreal cooling), and between 8,400 and 4,550 cal. yr. BP (warm and dry interval of the Atlantic). Since 4,550 cal. yr. BP the climate became gradually cooler, wetter and more oceanic. This trend was interrupted by warmer and dryer phases between 3,440 and 2,850 cal. yr. BP and, likely, between 2,500 and 2,250 cal. yr. BP.     

Diatom stratigraphy of the last 250 ka at Lake El’gygytgyn,northeast Siberia

Diatom species counts were conducted on 171 sediment samples from the 13-m-long core PG1351 from Lake El’gygytgyn, northeast Siberia. The planktonic Cyclotella ocellata-complex dominates the diatom assemblage through most of the core record, persisting through a variety of climate conditions. Periphytic diatoms, although less abundant, have greater diversity and greater down-core assemblage variation. During warm climate modes, longer summer ice-free conditions may have allowed more complex diatom communities to develop in shallow-water habitats, and enhanced circulation may have increased transport of these diatoms to deeper parts of the lake. Zones of low overall diatom abundance further support inferred intervals of low lake productivity during times of extended lake ice and snow cover. More data on the modern spatial and temporal distribution of diatom species in the Lake El’gygytgyn system will improve inferences from core records. This is the last in a series of eleven papers published in this␣special issue dedicated to initial studies of El'gygytgyn Crater Lake and its catchment in NE Russia. Julie Brigham-Grette, Martin Melles, Pavel Minyuk were guest editors of this special issue.     

Holocene environmental changes and development of Figurnoye Lake in the southern Bunger Hills, East Antarctica

The lithology, radiocarbon chronology, granulometry, geochemistry and distribution of diatoms were investigated in three sediment cores from fresh-water Figurnoye Lake in the southern Bunger Hills, East Antarctica. Our paleolimnological data provide a record of Holocene environmental changes for this region. In the early Holocene (prior to 9.0 ± 0.5 kyr BP), warm climate conditions caused intensive melting of either the floating glacier ice mass or glaciers in the immediate lake surroundings, leading to the accumulation of terrigenous clastic sediments and limiting biogenic production in the lake. From ca. 9.0 ± 0.5 to 5.5 ± 0.5 kyr BP, highly biogenic sediments dominated by benthic mosses formed, indicating more distal glaciers or snowfields. A relatively cold and dry climate during this period caused weaker lake-water circulation and, likely, occurrence of lake ice conditions were more severe than present. The distribution of marine diatoms in the cores shows that, sometime between 8 and 5 kyr BP, limited amounts of marine water episodically penetrated to the lake, requiring a relative sea-level rise exceeding 10–11 m. During the last ca. 5.5 ± 0.5 kyr BP, sedimentation of mainly biogenic matter with a dominance of laminated microbial mats occurred in the lake under warm climatic conditions, interrupted by relative coolings: the first one around 2 kyr BP and then shortly before recent time. Between ca. 5.5 and 4 kyr BP, the drainage of numerous ice-dammed lakes took place in the southern Bunger Hills and, as a result, drier landscapes have existed here from about 4 kyr BP.     

Diatoms and sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) population dynamics: Reconstructions of salmon-derived nutrients over the past 2,200 years in two lakes from Kodiak Island, Alaska

The return of hundreds to millions of adult sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka), which have returned from the ocean to their natal nursery lake environment to spawn, can result in significant nutrient loading. By analyzing sedimentary diatom assemblages from nursery lakes, we demonstrated that a salmon-derived nutrient signal could be traced over time and be used to infer past sockeye salmon population dynamics. We conducted a 2,200 year paleolimnological study of two Alaskan sockeye salmon nursery lakes, Karluk and Frazer lakes. The two lakes are very similar, except that sockeye salmon were only introduced into Frazer Lake in 1951 (first spawners returned in 1956). In both lakes we found a strong correspondence between diatom assemblages and the number of adult salmon spawners recorded in the historical data (40 and 70 years for Frazer and Karluk lakes, respectively). Given this robust relationship, we then used our analyses of diatoms from Karluk Lake over the past 2,200 years to gain insight into salmon-derived nutrient loading changes (which are directly related to the number of sockeye salmon spawners). The diatom record from Karluk Lake recorded dramatic species changes on both decadal and century timescales, and was strongly correlated with an independent indicator of sockeye salmon abundances, ¹⁵N. Together, these data suggest pronounced variability in sockeye salmon abundances at Karluk Lake over the past 2,200 years. The direct impacts of regional environmental variability were not likely responsible for the patterns apparent in Karluk Lake, as the diatom and ¹⁵N profiles from Frazer Lake were relatively stable prior to the introduction of sockeye salmon. Application of total phosphorus transfer functions to the Karluk and Frazer lakes' diatom records revealed that sockeye salmon carcasses substantially increased the trophic status in these lakes, which has important implications for the health of juvenile salmon that rear in nursery lakes. Overall, this paper illustrates the potential use of diatoms in reconstructing past sockeye salmon population dynamics, which in turn can lead to a greater understanding of the mechanisms influencing abundances of sockeye salmon.     

Present Limnological Conditions and Recent (ca. 340 yr) Palaeolimnology of a Tropical Lake in the Sierra de Los Tuxtlas, Eastern Mexico

The Sierra de Los Tuxtlas is a recently active volcanic field, with eruptions in 1664 and 1792. It holds one of the reserves of tropical evergreen forest in Mexico, as well as several maar lakes. One of them, Lago Verde, was chosen for a three-fold study (1) on its present limnological conditions, (2) on the algal community living in the water column and preserved in the surface sediments; and (3) on its recent history (ca. 340 yr). The palaeolimnological study was based on multiproxy analyses on core material dated by ²¹⁰Pb, ¹³⁷Cs and ¹⁴C. Lago Verde is a small, shallow lake with dilute, slightly alkaline water (CO₃²⁻ + HCO₃⁻ > Cl⁻ > SO₄²⁻, Na⁺ + K⁺ > Ca²⁺ > Mg²⁺). It is turbid, eutrophic, with high phosphorus levels. It is a warm polymictic lake, with thermal and oxygen stratification establishing by midday during the warm months. The lake does not stratify in winter. Diatoms dominate the phytoplankton community in the cold ‘nortes’ season, Cyanobacteria in summer, and Chlorophyta in autumn. Cyanobacteria (Chroococcales) are not well preserved in the surface sediments while Chlorophyta are better preserved. Sedimentary diatoms are well preserved, dominated by the three most abundant species in the water column: Achnanthidium minutissimum, Fragilaria capucina and Aulacoseira granulata. The base of the studied sequences is constrained by the historic eruption of 1664. The period from 1664 to 1963 is characterised by a meso-eutrophic lake. Tropical Forest vegetation reaches maximum values between ca. 1800 and 1963. Between ca. 1785 and 1885 the lake was slightly shallower than in the rest of the 1664–1963 period, probably recording climatic variability. An early pulse of anthropogenic disturbance was recorded by ca. 1921 and after ca. 1963 intense forest clearance and high erosion rates led to a more turbid, more productive, nutrient-rich lake. The highest anthropogenic impact was reached by ca. 1988; afterwards the lake and its basin reached a new balance, with the establishment of the present modern conditions.     

Multi-proxy Reconstruction of Trophic State,Hypolimnetic Anoxia and Phototrophic Sulphur Bacteria Abundance in a Dimictic Lake in Northern Germany over the past 80 Years

During monthly investigations from 1996 to 2000, a hypolimnetic layer of phototrophic sulphur bacteria (Chromatium spp.) were observed in Lake Dudinghausen, a small dimictic lake in northern Germany. This paleolimnological study was initiated to detect if the occurrence of sulphur bacteria was related to cultural eutrophication or reflected natural conditions. Therefore, diatoms, algal pigments, okenone, geochemical proxies, and ²¹⁰Pb and ¹³⁷Cs were used in four sediment cores to investigate historical changes in trophic development, hypolimnetic redox conditions, anoxia and phototrophic sulphur bacteria abundances. Fossil diatoms, pigments, the ratio of chlorophyll derivatives to total carotenoids and the ratio of chlorophyll a to its derivatives suggest two phases of eutrophication coupled with hypolimnetic anoxia over the last ~80 years: a first phase from about 1923–1932 and a second from 1952 to 1982. In the first phase the ratios of Fe–Mn as well as Fe–Ca increased, suggesting seasonal anoxia. However, hypolimnetic anoxia was only weak because low levels of okenone suggest no mass development of sulphur bacteria. In contrast, sulphur bacteria increased during the early stages of the second eutrophication phase, suggesting increased temporal and spatial hypolimnetic anoxia. Surprisingly, the ratios of Fe–Mn as well as Fe–Ca decreased during this time. Possibly Fe, Mn and Ca were equally reduced through the intense anoxia. In the final stage, sulphur bacteria decreased again. As these bacteria need both anoxic conditions and a certain amount of light, the increased nutrient load probably led to low Secchi depth and therefore insufficient light conditions. In more recent years, diatoms and pigments suggest a decrease in nutrient levels. A second mass development of sulphur bacteria occurred, probably due to improved light conditions and continued anoxia in the upper hypolimnion. We conclude that the recent development of phototrophic sulphur bacteria do not represent natural conditions in Lake Dudinghausen. Furthermore, the upper sediments contain a completely new diatom flora that never occurred in older sediments of Lake Dudinghausen. Therefore, nutrient levels may eventually reach natural conditions, however they may not represent biological background reference conditions.     

硫酸盐型盐湖盐田泻利盐矿硫酸镁浸取结晶工艺条件研究

本研究利用盐田高硫酸镁混盐矿—泻利盐矿和提钾老卤为原料,通过中温溶浸、冷却结晶的方法制取工业级硫酸镁。盐田高硫酸镁混盐矿热溶浸取最佳配矿条件,泻利盐矿:提钾老卤:淡水=1∶1.8∶0.8,溶浸温度(55±5)℃,溶浸时间1～2 h;将热滤液分别进行自然蒸发和冷冻结晶处理,得到的粗品经水洗均可达到工业级硫酸镁产品标准,采用冷冻结晶法收率较高,达到80.25%。     

A 140-year record of recent changes in aquatic productivity in a remote,tropical alpine lake in the Rwenzori Mountain National Park,Uganda

Environmental change in many tropical, alpine habitats remains poorly resolved due to an absence of proximate and sustained observations. In the Rwenzori Mountains of East Africa, glaciers have receded rapidly over the last century, and here we assess the impact of this recession through palaeolimnological analyses of a 45 cm sediment core (Buju3) from Lake Bujuku which is closest to the ice-fields and partly supplied by melt water in-flows. ²¹⁰Pb and ¹³⁷Cs suggest that Buju3 has an average sedimentation rate of 2.9 mm year⁻¹ and the base of the core can be dated to 1864 ± 20 years. Contemporary diatom taxa found in the lake are dominated by Tabellaria flocculosa and Synedra spp., but also include Achnanthes minutissima and Fragilaria pinnata. However, the diatom flora for Buju3 is less diverse and dominated by small, tychoplanktonic species of Fragilaria. Over the period associated with glacial recession, organic carbon isotope analysis (δ¹³C) suggests a small but distinct increase in within-lake productivity, which increases in rate since the mid 1970s up to the present day, in line with a shift towards increased algal productivity (as highlighted by C/N ratios). However, the diatom and pollen records appear rather insensitive to changes in glacier recession since the late 19th century.     

风蚀作用对盐尘释放、输送过程的影响——以新疆艾比湖地区为例

艾比湖地区处于准噶尔盆地西部,发源于准噶尔西部山口的大风流决定了该区风蚀作用的发展.由于人类活动而引起的艾比湖的干枯变成了新松散物质来源,最终导致了该区沙尘一盐尘暴的加剧.从1950年以来,随着准噶尔西部山麓平原的开垦和河道三角洲灌溉农业的发展,新疆第一大盐水湖--艾比湖水域面积也逐渐缩小,干涸湖底和湖滨地区荒漠化程度加剧,已成为中国西北方区域沙尘一盐尘暴主要来源地.研究该区风力运输机制和风蚀作用对盐尘释放、输送过程的影响,分析降尘物中盐分的化学成分、总量及沙尘摹的年内发生率和强度机制等.研究结果表明,干涸盐土湖底和盐漠沙丘的风蚀对盐尘的释放、输送过程起到积极地作用,它的形成与盐尘的扩散与沉降有密切的关系.随着离干涸湖底距离越远,沙尘暴的发生率、强度及降尘量也下降;降尘量为600 g·m-2·a-1(湖近)到70 g·m-2·a-1(离湖水面距离为100～200 km),其中盐分总量为14～27g·m-2·a-1;最大盐分含量可达为77 g·m-2·a-1.离湖越远,盐分的钙和硫酸盐成分越高,钠和氯化物成分越低.最后提出了对艾比湖湖区采取筑坝与隔离技术,分离出常年积水区和干涸湖底区,稳定艾比湖的水域面积,综合利用生物、化学、物理的防治技术,种植梭梭、柽柳、胡杨等耐盐灌、乔木树种,治理干涸湖底盐土风蚀的建议.     

陕西省韩城煤矿区居民环境污染调适行为

陕西省韩城矿区煤炭资源丰富, 但环境污染非常严重, 当地居民对此深感焦虑。本研究的目的是了解不同属性的居民对环境污染的调适行为差异以及影响因素, 供政府部门参考。通过454 份有效问卷的统计, 利用卡方检验、秩和检验和探索性路径分析方法, 得到以下结论:①大多数居民都很少或没有采取有关措施来要求改善环境。其中“给有关部门打电话”是居民最常用的要求改善环境的措施。②性别分组对大气污染、水污染和噪音污染的调适行为没有显著影响。年龄对居民的水污染、噪音污染调适行为有显著影响。文化程度对大气污染调适行为有显著影响。居住时间对调适行为没有显著影响。③“为了经济或就业愿意忍受污染的程度”对“考虑搬家”和“上诉”的调适行为有负向显著影响。“对环境污染的总体评价”的感知对“上诉”、“在家中规避”和“向同事抱怨”的调适行为有显著正向影响。对居民“组织维权行动”有显著影响的是采取“上诉”和“向同事抱怨”的两种调适行为, 以及“对环境污染的总体评价”的感知。“对政府环保工作的满意度”感知则对“组织维权行动”具有显著的负向影响。     

湖区农户对湿地资源和环境的感知研究——以安徽省安庆沿江湖群为例

湿地具有强大的环境功能和生态效益,在维持地球表面生态平衡中起着极为重要的作用。目前湿地研究是学术界关注的热点之一,成果颇丰,但从湖区农户对湿地资源与环境感知角度进行的研究国内尚不多见。以安庆沿江湖群为例,根据对湖区农户的实地问卷调查,分析湖区农户对湿地资源和环境的感知状况,得出一些基本认识,在此基础上提出湿地资源和环境可持续发展的建议与对策。     

Environmental Effects of Water Product from Coalbed Methane Wells: A Case Study of the Songhe Well Group,Western Guizhou,China

Natural Resources Research - Based on water chemistry analyses of five batches of water product samples from eight coalbed methane (CBM) wells of the Songhe well group in the western Guizhou...     

Diatoms and pollen as indicators of water quality and land-use change: a case study from the Oak Ridges Moraine,Southern Ontario,Canada

Swan Lake is a small kettle lake located on the Oak Ridges Moraine; a moraine that is recognized as an important source of ground water for the nearby and rapidly expanding Greater Toronto Area. A paleolimnological reconstruction using pollen and diatoms from the lake sediments showed significant changes in biological community composition through the last ∼400 years. Alterations in the diatom and pollen assemblages were most dramatic ca. A.D. 1850, correlating with the highest sediment flux in the lake between the period ca. A.D. 1850 and A.D. 1870. These changes were directly linked to regional deforestation and agricultural activities associated with European settlement. The pollen record from ca. A.D. 1850 to present day indicated that tree species (e.g. Pinus spp., Tsuga canadensis) were declining, while grass (Poaceae) and invasive species (e.g. Ambrosia) were increasing. Around A.D. 1850, the diatom flora changed from an assemblage dominated by large, benthic species (e.g. Sellaphora pupula, Pinnularia cf. maior, and Stauroneis phoenicenteron) to an assemblage characterized by smaller, tychoplanktonic (e.g. Fragilaria tenera, Staurosirella pinnata) and epiphytic (e.g. Achnanthidium minutissimum, Rossithidium linearis) taxa. This diatom community change supports the intermediate disturbance hypothesis which predicts a high level of diversity and richness following an intermediate to intense disturbance of short duration. Phosphorus concentrations in Swan Lake were inferred using a diatom-based regional calibration model, and the results indicated marked changes in lake water chemistry through time (from below detection limits before land clearance and settlement to 19.3 μg l⁻¹ in the current sediments), which were concurrent with episodes of regional deforestation and land-use change. Although the sediment and biological records indicate that the lake ecology has stabilized over the last 30–50 years, paleolimnological records show that the water quality and biology of Swan Lake has changed dramatically and not returned to pre-settlement conditions. Swan Lake presents a detailed record of the impact created by deforestation and urban development with a population of <50 individuals per km². Detailed paleolimnological studies like Swan Lake, in tandem with global human footprint studies, can create realistic estimates of land-use impacts at the global scale.     

Monitoring the Effects of Biological Control of Water Hyacinths Using Remotely Sensed Data: A Case Study of Bangalore, India

Native to South America, water hyacinths were brought to India as ornamental plants and are now considered as one of the most dreaded aquatic weeds in the country. This plant has infested more than 200,000 ha of fresh water bodies in the country. The Indian Institute of Horticultural Research resorted to biological methods to control these weeds and received favorable results, however, these weeds tend to reinfest the fresh water bodies. For an effective weed control, the infestation needs to be monitored and remotely sensed data have been recommended for this purpose. In this research, SPOT multitemporal data have been used to monitor the infestation of water hyacinths in Bangalore, India. Using Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), this study delineated areas of clearing and new infestation in the fresh water tanks in the study area. This study concluded that host specific weevils can eradicate water hyacinths in large areas but that reinfestation remains an ongoing problem.