Identification and quantitative estimates of groundwater transfers to formerly charophyte dominated marl lakes with radon-222.

Interaction with groundwater determines many processes in marl lakes. Net transfer of inorganic carbon helps define their chemical characteristics and determines their unique benthic flora. Nutrient enrichment weakens the biogeochemical buffering mechanisms which help maintain a clear-water state and many small, shallow marl lakes are prone to siltation.

Recovery targets and timescales for Lough Neagh and other lakes.

The framework, model and methods of Nürnberg were applied and evaluated in Lough Neagh and 19 other lakes in order to establish inflow phosphorus concentrations that support target lake values. Supporting concentrations, in the absence of an internal load, were derived and the effect of uncertainty in the model retention coefficient was relatively small, ±11-20 % in Lough Neagh and an average (n = 17) of ±9.7 % in the other lakes.

Timescale of reduction of long-term phosphorus release from sediment in lakes.

It is important for lake management and policy to estimate the timescale of recovery from long-term P release from sediment after a reduction in the external load. To provide a scientific basis for this, a condensed model was elaborated, applied and evaluated in four lakes. The model is based on first order kinetics, with an overall rate constant composed of the rate of diagenesis of labile P (kd,2) and rate of burial of P (kb) below an active sediment layer.

The changing times of Europe's largest remaining commercially harvested population of eel Anguilla anguilla L.

This study quantifies the processes involved in regulating the European eel population of Lough Neagh, a lake in Northern Ireland. The relationship between glass eel input and silver eel output for the 1923-1997 cohorts was best described by a Beverton-Holt stock recruitment model. Glass eel input time series was not complete and was thus derived from the relationship between catches elsewhere in Europe and Lough Neagh, together with the addition of stocked glass eel.

Assessing lake ecological status across a trophic gradient through environmental and biological variables.

The Water Framework Directive was widely welcomed because it sought to integrate chemical and biological elements of aquatic ecosystems to achieve 'good ecological status', reflecting at most slight anthropogenic impact. However, implementation has been criticised because of the failure to adequately integrate these elements and assess status of the whole ecosystem. In this study, a suite of environmental and biotic variables was measured to assess their relative importance as predictors of lake status for 50 lakes in the north of the island of Ireland.

Temporal dynamics of uncultured viruses: a new dimension in viral diversity.

Recent work has vastly expanded the known viral genomic sequence space, but the seasonal dynamics of viral populations at the genome level remain unexplored. Here we followed the viral community in a freshwater lake for 1 year using genome-resolved viral metagenomics, combined with detailed analyses of the viral community structure, associated bacterial populations and environmental variables. We reconstructed 8950 complete and partial viral genomes, the majority of which were not persistent in the lake throughout the year, but instead continuously succeeded each other.

Metagenomic Characterisation of the Viral Community of Lough Neagh, the Largest Freshwater Lake in Ireland.

Lough Neagh is the largest and the most economically important lake in Ireland. It is also one of the most nutrient rich amongst the world's major lakes. In this study, 16S rRNA analysis of total metagenomic DNA from the water column of Lough Neagh has revealed a high proportion of Cyanobacteria and low levels of Actinobacteria, Acidobacteria, Chloroflexi, and Firmicutes.

Impacts of forestry planting on primary production in upland lakes from north-west Ireland.

Planted forests are increasing in many upland regions worldwide, but knowledge about their potential effects on algal communities of catchment lakes is relatively unknown. Here, the effects of afforestation were investigated using palaeolimnology at six upland lake sites in the north-west of Ireland subject to different extents of forest plantation cover (4-64% of catchment area). (210)Pb-dated sediment cores were analysed for carotenoid pigments from algae, stable isotopes of bulk carbon (δ(13)C) and nitrogen (δ(15)N), and C/N ratios.