Long-term studies (1871-2000) on acidification and recovery of lakes in the Bohemian Forest (central Europe).

Abstract This paper evaluates long-term changes in the atmospheric depositions of S and N compounds, lake water quality, and biodiversity at eight glacial lakes in the Bohemian Forest over the past 130 years. This time interval covers (i) the ‘background’ pre-acidification status of the lakes, (ii) a period of changes in the communities that can be partly explained by introduction of fish, (iii) a period of strong lake acidification with its adverse impacts on the communities, (iv) the lake reversal from acidity, which includes the recent status of the lakes. The lake water chemistry has followed—with a characteristic hysteresis—both the sharp increase and decline in the deposition trends of strong anions. Remarkable changes in biota have mirrored the changing water quality. Fish became extinct and most species of zooplankton (Crustacea) and benthos (Ephemeroptera and Plecoptera) retreated due to the lake water acidification. Independent of ongoing chemical reversal, microorganisms remain dominant in the recent plankton biomass as well as in controlling the pelagic food webs. The first signs of the forthcoming biological recovery have already been evidenced in some lakes, such as the population of Ceriodaphnia quadrangula (Cladocera) returning into the pelagial of one lake or the increase in both phytoplankton biomass and rotifer numbers in another lake.