Phosphorus retention in a mesotrophic lake under transient loading conditions: insights from a sediment phosphorus binding form study.

Phosphorus retention in sediments has been estimated for three basins in Lake Simcoe, a mesotrophic lake in Ontario, Canada. Total phosphorous (TP) fractionation was used to examine the concentration of phosphorus (P) binding forms in the sediments of Cook's Bay, Kempenfelt Bay, and the Main Basin. The extended sequential extractions allowed us to differentiate between organic-, inorganic-, carbonate-bounded and redox-sensitive phosphorus.

Continuous Bayesian network for studying the causal links between phosphorus loading and plankton patterns in Lake Simcoe, Ontario, Canada.

An ecosystem perspective to restoring beneficial uses in Areas of Concern can be interpreted as a shift from the traditional elucidation of simple cause-effect relationships to a multicausal way of thinking that more effectively accommodates ecosystem complexity. This holistic management paradigm has also pervaded the contemporary ecological modeling practice, making compelling the adoption of more sophisticated ecosystem modeling tools. In this study, our primary objective is to develop a Bayesian hierarchical network of simple ecological models for Lake Simcoe, Ontario, Canada, aiming to establish a realistic representation of the causal connections among exogenous nutrient loading, ambient nutrient conditions, and epilimnetic plankton dynamics.