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Chinese Science Bulletin 2006 Vol. 51 No. 19 2401—2412
DOI: 10.1007/s11434-006-2096-y
Mechanism and control of
lake eutrophication
QIN Boqiang1, YANG Liuyan1,2, CHEN Feizhou1,
ZHU Guangwei1, ZHANG Lu1 & CHEN Yiyu3
1. Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of
Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China;
2. College of Environmental Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing
210093, China;
3. National Natural Science Foundation of China, Beijing 100085, China
Correspondence should be addressed to Qin Boqiang (email: qinbq@
niglas.ac.cn)
Received November 23, 2005; accepted April 11, 2006
Abstract A review about lake naturally eutrophi-
cating, the internal loading of nutrients from lake
sediment as well as the mechanism of algal blooms
and the control practices was made, especially the
eutrophication problem of shallow lakes since sev-
enty percent of fresh water lakes in China are shallow
lakes. It was found that shallow lakes are apt toward
eutrophication than deep lakes. Without any influ-
ences of human activity, shallow lakes in the middle
and lower reaches of Yangtze River are still easily
eutrophicated, which may be owing to the effects of
flood in this area. In shallow lakes, sediments are
frequently disturbed by wind-wave and resuspended,
which result in huge nutrients release to overlying
water. This may be the major reason for higher in-
ternal loading of nutrients in shallow lakes than in
deep lakes. Algal bloom is an extreme response of
lake ecosystem to the eutrophication. Appearance of
algal blooms is related to physical condition of lakes,
such as underwater radiation (or transparency),
temperature, and hydrodynamic conditions, or related
to geochemical conditions of lakes, like concentra-
tions of nutrients and ratio of nitrogen to phosphorus,
as well as the physiological advantage of cyanobac-
teria such as vacuole for moving towards the radiant
energy-rich zone and the mycosporine-like amino
acids (MAAs) for resisting the harm of ultraviolet ra-
diation. In shallow lakes, these advantages of
cyanobacteria are favorable in the competition than in
deep lakes. Also being the shallowness, it is more
difficult to reduce nutrient loading and to control algae
blooms in shallow lakes. For the control of eutrophi-
cation, people should follow the sequence from
pollution sources control, ecological restoration to
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catchment management. To control the internal nu-
trient release, physical, chemical, biological tech-
niques, and even bionic techniques could be selected.
The idea of ecological restoration for a eutrophic lake
is to shift the ecosystem from phytoplankton-domi-
nant state to macrophyte-dominant state. To realize
the shift of ecosystem state, environmental condition
improvement is the fundamental work. Nowadays, we
should do more work on environmental condition
improvement than on planting of macrophytes since
we are lack of the knowledge about the relationship
between macrophyte and lake ecosystem. Empha-
sizing the macrophyte planting, therefore, has blind-
ness at present. Because all lakes have different
characteristics of environment and ecosystem, ap-
plicable lake harness techniques should be selected
based on the distinct ecosystem types and environ-
mental problems.
Keywords: lake eutrophication, trophic history, shallow lakes, in-
ternal loading control, ecological restoration.
China is rich in lakes. The total lake area is 91000
km2 in which approximately one third, namely 27000
km2, is the fresh water lake[1]. In these fresh water lakes,
about 16558 km2 (accounting for 60% of total fresh
water lake area) is located in the middle and lower
reaches of the Yangtze River and all these are shallow
lakes[1]. There is no explicit definition about “shallow
lake”. The “shallow” lake is opposite to the “deep” lake.
Generally, the deep lakes have presence of thermo-
clines during summer but the shallow lakes have not.
Constitutes of the upside mixed layer (epilimnion) are
entirely different from those of the lower part
(hypolimnion) either in chemical or biological charac-
teristics. These separated upper and lower layers will be
maintained without much exchange throughout sum-
mertime. For shallow lakes, there is not the above phe-
nomenon. The entire lake will not be divided into two
explicitly different chemical and biological layers. All
lakes located in the middle and lower reaches of the
Yangtze River can be categorized into shallow lakes. In
recent two decades, since the rapid development and
unreasonable exploration, most of the shallow lakes in
the middle and lower reaches of Yangtze River have
been eutrophicated or eutrophicating[2]. The functions
of lake ecosystem are degenerated, algal bloom occurs
frequently, and drinking water supply is often limited,
which causes massive economic loss. Aiming at this
problem, many efforts concerning the eutrophication
control has been conducted. However, due to the less
understanding of eutrophication in shallow lake, the
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harness and control results were often unsatisfied.
Based on the recently implemented investigations
through several research projects conducted in the
Tenth Five-Year-Plan in China, we attempt to summa-
rize these new findings and highlight the problems
which are still in existence, and finally to provide the
useful instruction for lake environmental harness and
management.
1 Natural development of lake eutrophication
There are seldom oligotrophic lakes in the middle
and lower reaches of Yangtze River. Does this mean
these shallow lakes located in floodplain apt to eutro-
phication? To address this question, the trophic history
of these lakes must be reconstructed through sedimen-
tary records. However, because the nutrients in lake
sediments come not only from lake water but also from
watershed, the nutrient content in sediments can not
reflect directly the nutrient level in lake water.
Two basic techniques from paleolimnology are used
to reconstruct trophic history of lakes. One is sediment
dating technique, such as 14C dating, 210Pb and 137Cs
dating methods, paleomagnetism and stratigraphy. The
other is trophic index identification in sediment. Based
on these two techniques, it is possible to reconstruct
historical trophic state of the lakes.
Two kinds of trophic indicators could reflect the
historical trophic status of lakes. It is geochemical in-
dicators and fossil indicators. Geochemical indicators
include the contents and ratios of nutrient (for instance
C, N, P, S and their ratios), content of pigments, sedi-
mentation flux of nutrient and pigment, ratio of isotope
δ13C and δ15N in organic matter of sediments. Fossil
indicators include assemblage and amount of diatoms,
chironomids, cladocerans, etc. Among these indicators,
diatom assemblage and pigments are most robust and
effective indicators. The accuracy of these indicators
was examined in Lake No. 227 in Ontario, Canada[3].
Lake No. 227 is a small lake with area of 5 hm2[3].
Since 1967, this lake has been fertilized by adding ni-
trogen and phosphorus pollutants. Ultimately, Lake No.
227 has been eutrophicated. Leavitt et al. conducted an
investigation and made an evaluation about the accu-
racy of trophic indicators (Table 1).
From the experiments in Lake No. 227, fossil indi-
cators are quite accurate to reflect the change of biota
in lake (Table 1). These indicators have been used to
reconstruct lake trophic history since 1950’s. Stockner
and Benson successfully reconstructed the trophic his-
2402
Table 1 Reliability of trophic status indicators[3]
Reliability Indicator
Unreliable Dinoflagellate carotenoids
Nonchitinous zooplankton (copepods, rotifers)
sediment accumulation rate
Unclear Carotenoids from cryptophytes, siliceous algae
Reliable contents of nitrogen and phosphorus
organic contents
Very reliable algae microfossils
chitinous Cladocera (e.g., Bosmina)
carotenoids from chlorophytes and cyanobacteria
ubiquitous pigments (e.g. β-carotene, pheophytin α)
tory of Lake Washington by A/C ratio of diatom [4].
Wetzel reconstructed the past trophic status of Lake
Pretty, Indiana, USA[5].
In China, a little work concerning the past trophic
status reconstruction had been implemented. By pig-
ments and δ13C, Shen et al.[6] had reconstructed the
trophic history of Nansihu Lake in Shandong Province.
They had found the cyanobacteria bloom occurred in
the lake history[6]. Yang et al.[7,8] reconstructed the
300a trophic history of Lake Longgan and Lake Taibai
in Anhui Province by diatom assemblage. It was found
that the Lake Longgan had two eutrophic periods, i.e.
1770―1815 and 1906 to present, respectively. Since
the 1950s, the eutrophicating has been speeded up due
to increase in anthropologic pollutant emission[8]. Tro-
phic status of Lake Taibai had a same fluctuation as
Lake Longgan before 1950s. From 1950s, the total
phosphorus in water column increased gradually up to
120 μg/L. With the increase in total phosphorus con-
centration in lake water, macrophyte coverage has re-
duced and lake shifts to the state of turbid water. Based
on the discoveries of Lake Longgan and Lake Taibai, it
was proposed that the threshold value of ecosystem
shift from macrophyte-dominant type to phytoplank-
ton-dominant type was ca. 90 μg/L[8,9]. This threshold
value is similar to the lakes in Denmark[10]. These stud-
ies suggest that the shallow lakes in floodplain of
Yangtze River had been eutrophicated naturally. It has
high nutrient baseline in the history.
The reason about the lake natural eutrophication is
still unclear. It is postulated to be related to the climate
condition, especially the extremely flooding. Generally,
the macrophytes are flourishing in these shallow lakes
or depressive areas in subtropical floodplain. Flooding
water will transport lots of particulates, including the
nutrients, into these depressive areas, deposited in the
shallow lakes. During the flooding, vast macrophytes
would be destroyed if a high water stand would be per-
sisted[11] (Dokulill, personal communication). Without
Chinese Science Bulletin Vol. 51 No. 19 October 2006

the coverage of macrophyte, massive sediment would
be suspended due to the wind-induced wave action in
these shallow lakes, and resulted in eutrophication
naturally. Certainly, the characteristic of nutrient source
place, the vegetation type, and soil feature and land
utilization will affect this natural eutrophication process
in shallow lakes. Viewing from great scale, the tectonic
movements portrayed the floodplain of Yangtze River,
the geomorphic characteristics of floodplain create
shallow lakes and further figure the ecological features
of these lakes.
2 Nutrient releases from lake sediment and inter-
nal pollution
Actually the eutrophication is a process of increase
and enrichment of nitrogen and phosphorus in the lake.
Lake sediment is the accumulation pool of nutrients in
deed. In Lake Wingra from Wisconsin, USA, the nitro-
gen in surficial sediment within 10 cm accounted for
23% of total nitrogen and as high as 74% at the depth
between 10cm and 30cm. Most of nitrogen was in form
of organic form[12]. Investigation in Lake Donghu, Wu-
han, China, suggested that the most of phosphorus in
water was from the sewage discharge. About 60% of
the phosphorus would retain in the lake, which resulted
in the sharp increase of the phosphorus concentration in
sediment[13].
The phosphorus concentration in the lake is usually
used to indicate the lake primary production and tro-
phic level[14]. In natural lakes, most of the phosphorus
was organic and meanwhile, about 70% of the organic
phosphorus was particulate-bound phosphorus[5]. The
particle-bound phosphorus will easily deposit into bot-
tom after coming into the lake, which made the nutrient
enriched in the sediment. These nutrients would be re-
leased to overlying water in certain conditions, and be-
come the internal loadings.
There are several ways of nutrient release from
sediment, i.e. molecular diffusion (mainly rely on the
nutrient concentration gradient between the interstitial
and overlying water), dynamic disturbance induced by
wind and wave, bio-disturbance by benthic organisms,
bubble effluence, phytoplankton floating and transmis-
sion of aquatic plant root[5]. Many ambient factors
could affect the nutrient release, such as temperature,
pH, redox condition and the content of iron and man-
ganese[15 18]. The temperature will affect nutrient re-
―
lease via the molecular movement and the microorgan-
isms’ activity. pH value will influence the nutrients re-
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lease. If the pH value is less 2 or greater than 9, the
nutrient release will increase dramatically[16,18]. Inves-
tigation in the eutrophic lake found that the pH would
increase during algae blooming in summer because of
the algal photosynthesis, which results in the increase
in nutrient release[19]. The redox condition at the sedi-
ment-water interface will also greatly affect the phos-
phorus release. Under reduction condition, the nutrient
release rate from the sediment is about one order of
magnitude higher than that in oxidative condition[15].
Research work conducted in Lake Taihu supported the
conclusion that the nutrient release, transformation,
adsorption and enrichment would be affected greatly by
the pH and redox condition (Eh) in the sediment[20].
In addition, the phosphorus releasing from sediment
in shallow lake will be affected by the wind-induced
turbulence. Because of the shallowness, the nutrient
preservation in sediment, transformation in sediment-
water system, and release from sediment, all will be
influenced by the hydrodynamic processes. Investiga-
tion in Lake Taihu suggested that sediment resuspen-
sion resulting from the wind-induced turbulence de-
rived massive nutrient released into overlying water in
short period[21 25]. In Lake Biwa, the suspended parti-
―
cles in shallow water area increased from 4.5 mg/L be-
fore typhoon experiencing to 17.0 mg/L after the ty-
phoon experiencing, and the phosphorus concentration
increased from 1.0 μg/L to 2.5 μg/L[26]. Lake Apopka is
a shallow eutrophic lake in Florida, USA, with area of
125 km2, mean depth of 1.7m, and TP concentration of
0.186 mg/L, TN of 4.488 mg/L, and Chl-a of 0.106
mg/L[23]. In this lake, the dynamic process plays an
important role in phosphorus cycling[24]. Hydrodynamic
processes will erode the phytoplankton deposited at the
lake bottom and make it resuspense[23]. The soluble
reactive phosphorus (SRP) within top 8 cm sediment
will be released following the sediment resuspension[24].
Meanwhile, the organic matter in top 8 cm sediment
would also be oxidized[24]. Similar results were found
in Lake Okeechobee, and another shallow eutrophic
lake in Florida, USA[27]. The field investigation in Lake
Arresø, Denmark (a small eutrophic lake with area of
41 km2 and mean depth of 2.9 m) also revealed that the
nutrient concentration will increase up to 20―30 folds
with hydrodynamic disturbance[25]. Statistical analysis
showed that the solid suspension concentration was
well correlated with the TP concentration and wind
speed[25]. Further research suggested that although the
TP concentration in water column would greatly in-
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crease with dynamic disturbance[22], the soluble phos-
phorus or SRP in water column would increase at initial
period but keep at same level as that prior to distur-
bance after initial period[28]. This is attributed to the
re-aeration of water column resulting in the oxidation
of iron (ferric) and manganese along with the sediment
suspension, which will enhance the adsorption ability
of particles for soluble phosphorus and finally precipi-
tate into the bottom. On the other hand, the sediment
resuspension and nutrient release induced by the wind
and wave is so frequent that the accumulative effect is
quite considerable. It is the distinct characteristic of
shallow lake, which makes the nutrient loading reduc-
tion damped by the internal nutrient release. There was
a comparison about the nutrient loading control in deep
and shallow lake. Lake Constance is a deep lake lo-
cated in the border between German and Swiss. It took
about 10 years to reduce the TP and the phytoplankton
biomass dropped from 80 μg/L to 20 μg/L[29 31]. Lake
―
Søbygård from Denmark is a shallow and eutrophic
lake. Even if the external loading for this lake has been
completely controlled after decades of pollutant source
control, the nutrient concentration and phytoplankton
biomass in Lake Søbygård is still very high. It is esti-
mated that it still needs decades to restore the lake to
the nutrient level before eutrophication, which is much
longer than Lake Constance[32,33]. For the shallow eu-
trophic lake restoration, both internal loading control
and external loading control should be considered. This
is why to restore a eutrophic shallow lake is much more
difficult than a deep lake.
There is still less advancement about the nutrient
transformation from one form to the other. The hard-
ness of this research work comes from the insufficient
understanding about the biological role and effect of
organism participation, such as how the microbial ac-
tivities affect the nutrient transformation. With the de-
velopment of molecular biology and applied in limnol-
ogy, such as the application of gene probe[34], this field
would broaden our knowledge and become an impor-
tant direction of modern limnology.
3 Mechanism and biomanipulation control of algal
bloom in eutrophic shallow lakes
The algal bloom is one of the characteristics of eu-
trophication lakes. The algal bloom could be induced
by the bottom-up effect of nutrient increment, and
could also result from top-down effect, such as lacking
of zooplankton predation. In most cases, the algal
2404
bloom results from nutrient increment. Thus the top
priority to control the algal bloom and lake eutrophica-
tion is to reduce the nutrient loading.
There are several species of phytoplankton which
could form bloom, including Microcystis, Anabaena,
Oscillatoria and Aphanizomenon. Sometimes Melosira
could become dominant species. In China, many lakes
have experienced the occurrence of algal blooms such
as Lake Taihu, Lake Chaohu and Lake Dianchi[35], the
same as lakes abroad[36]. Among these lakes, the most
dominant species in the algal blooms is Microcystis.
Even if there were a lot of research concerning the ori-
gin and ecology of algal bloom, little is known about
the mechanism of occurrence of algal bloom. Three
kinds of factors could induce the occurrence of algal
bloom, i.e. the physical, geochemical and physiological
factors. For the physical factors, it includes the water
depth, temperature, light or radiation, and dynamic
factors. Because most of lakes experiencing algal
bloom are shallow lakes in China, and the frequent
turbulence produced by wind and wave action could
derive the sediment suspension, and further affect the
nutrient release and water transparency. In this way, the
hydrodynamic turbulence makes the uneven spatial and
temporal distribution of light and nutrient conditions in
these shallow lakes[21,37]. This uneven and variable am-
bient condition could be in favor of Microcystis com-
peting with nutrient and irradiant because of its vacuole
and the ability of movement in this changeable aquatic
condition[38]. Additionally, the solid suspension in the
water column is so high that the photosynthesis only
takes place in the surficial layer in the lake[39]. The
depth at which the photosynthesis could happen is so
shallow that the ultraviolet radiation is quite strong.
Most phytoplankton species would not survive in this
layer, but Microcystis could resist the ultraviolet radia-
tion and prevail in this shallow water bodies. The sec-
ond is the geochemical factors which include the N/P
ratio and nutrient concentration. It is suggested that the
algal bloom could be found in the lake in which the N/P
ratio is less than 29[40]. But this viewpoint is still fre-
quently questioned. Recent research indicated that the
N/P ratio less than 29 was a result of algal bloom oc-
currence rather than a reason of algal bloom occur-
rence[41]. Tang Huijuan compared 35 lakes in which 23
lakes have experienced algal bloom, and found that the
lakes have the algal bloom with N/P ratio ranging from
13 to 35 and have not algal bloom with N/P lower than
13[42].
Chinese Science Bulletin Vol. 51 No. 19 October 2006

In order to control the algal bloom, the bio-manipu-
lation research was promoted in China. Traditional
biomanipulation was conducted through adjusting food
chain in which piscivores fish would increase in bio-
mass to control the zooplanktivores fish to increase the
zooplankton and finally to reduce the phytoplankton[43],
which is the so-called traditional biomanipulation in
which it is emphasized to utilize the zooplankton pre-
dation to control the algal biomass and finally to im-
prove the water quality. This technique has been widely
used in lake management since it was firstly proposed
in 1975[44 48]. In Lake Round, Minnesota, USA, after
―
the Lepomis macrochirus and piscivores fish species
Micropterus salmoides and Stizostedion vitreum were
introduced into the lake, the original five species were
expelled and the fish community was adjusted along
with decrease in chlorophyll, decrease of total density
of zooplankton and increase of large zooplankton and
the increase of transparency[45]. Although traditional
biomanipulation method has been successful in many
applications, it is not applicable in the eutrophic lakes
with algal blooms because the high concentration and
large size of algae would inhibit the predation of zoo-
plankton[49]. This technique would be limited in eutro-
phic lakes[50,51]. Aiming at the severe problem of algal
bloom in eutrophic lakes in China, Chinese scientists
suggested the non-traditional biomanipulation to reduce
the algal biomass by growing planktivores fish such as
silver Carp and bighead Carp[52]. The in situ enclosure
experiments in Lake Donghu, Wuhan, China validated
that the silver Carp, Hypophthalmichthys molitrix and
bighead Carp, Aristichehys nobilis could effectively
remove the blue-green algae. This finding could ex-
plain the disappearance of algal bloom in Lake Donghu
in the 1980s[52 54]. Enclosure experimental results sug-
―
gested that the most effective densities of silver Carp
and bighead Carp for algal biomass control were 46－
50 g·m−3. Since that time, non-traditional technique
was widely employed in algal bloom control in Lake
Taihu, Lake Chaohu and Lake Dianchi. Though the
non-traditional biomanipulation technique could effec-
tively control the cyanobacteria biomass in eutrophic
lakes, it is necessary to evaluate the ecological effects
before it is widely applied, such as the alternation of
food web and microbial food web structure in lake.
4 Technology for lake eutrophication control
Lake restoration from eutrophication generally fol-
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lowed a process of source control, ecosystem recon-
struction and catchment management. The source con-
trol included the external nutrients loadings in the
catchment and internal loadings released from the
sediment which was very important in eutrophication
control in shallow lakes. Based on the source control,
the ecosystem reconstruction was implemented in
which the aquatic plant reestablishment was the key
step. The ecosystem reconstruction in coastal area of
lake could effectively intercept the pollutant from the
land, while the reconstruction for multi types of aquatic
plant in lake could effectively reduce the sediment sus-
pension and internal pollutant release. Among all tech-
niques in controlling the lake eutrophication, therefore,
the nutrient loading control and lake ecosystem recon-
struction are the main two categories.
4.1 Technologies in control of internal nutrients
loadings in eutrophic lakes
In restoration of shallow eutrophic lakes, the reduc-
tion of internal nutrient loadings is key step for restor-
ing the macrophyte dominant ecosystem. From the past
restoration practice, one can see that the internal load-
ings and algal bloom in eutrophic shallow lake are re-
sistant to responding to the control of external loadings,
and sometime even no response, because of nutrient
release from sediment[55,56]. To control the internal
loadings, the water depth, pH, volume of lake, aeration
ability, nutrient release rate and hydrological conditions
should be considered to select economic and effective
measures. Meanwhile, only with the comprehensive
rectification of water environment, including the con-
trol of external pollutant loadings, the restoration of
ecosystems and management of water environment,
these measures will take effect.
(1) The physico-chemical measures to control the
internal loadings. The physico- chemical measures
include the sediment oxidation, chemical precipitation,
sediment capping, etc. These measures could reduce the
internal loadings by changing the sediment redox con-
dition to increase the sediment adsorption ability for
nutrients or producing a capping layer on the sediment
surface to inhibit the internal phosphorus release. These
measures can be applicable in small lakes or ponds
where hydrodynamic action is weak and sediment sur-
face is in anaerobic condition. For example, by aerating
at bottom, adding on aluminum, ferrous and calcium[57],
the redox condition at the sediment-water interface will
be changed resulting in the sensitive phosphate metallic
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compounds, i.e. the ferrous phosphate, transformed to
oxidative condition, inhibiting the internal phosphorus
release[58 61]. Meanwhile, the new born oxidative layer
―
at the sediment interface can minimize the sediment
disturbance and increase the sediment stability. Gener-
ally speaking, the main factor regulating the phospho-
rus release (usually Fe-P release in reductive condition)
is the redox condition when the pH of water is lower
than 9. This method can effectively control the phos-
phorus release. If the pH is higher (>9), the oxidizing
sediment-water interface and chemical precipitation to
control the internal phosphorus release could not take
effect, thus other methods should be considered.
(2) The physico-mechanical measures to control the
internal loadings. Water flushing is an effective
method to minimize and dilute the nutrients in lakes.
The preliminary prerequisite is availability of the clean
source water and the flushing intensity is great enough.
Generally, about 10%―15% of the lake capacity to be
flushed per day could get satisfied results. This flushing
method is usually effective, especially for the small size
and shallow lakes (e.g. Xuanwu Lake in Nanjing and
West Lake in Hangzhou). For large lakes, this measure
could be limited in use because it is uneconomic. For
the eutrophic and thermal stratified lakes, the nutrient
concentration in hypolimnion is usually higher than that
in epilimnion. Removing the water from hypolimnion
is an alternative way to remove the phosphorus and
reduce the nutrient concentration. There are some eu-
trophic lakes which have been flushed to reduce the
trophic level worldwide, such as Lake Veluwe in the
Netherlands[62]. This measure will discharge nutri-
ent-enriched water from eutrophic lake to downstream,
which will pollute the downstream areas. Thus this
method is a temporary countermeasure and applicable
in emergent situation. It can not control the eutrophica-
tion essentially.
Sediment dredging is also an important measure in
controlling the internal nutrient loadings in eutrophic
lakes. This countermeasure has been widely used in
many eutrophic lakes in China. But few successful
cases were documented in larger lakes. Investigations
suggested that proper dredging can improve the water
quality in short term. For a long term control of internal
loadings, this measure is not applicable [63]. To deter-
mine whether a lake can be dredged, a comprehensive
analysis is necessary. This comprehensive analysis
should include the sediment release rate, the nutrient
content in sediments, sediment suspension or re-aera-
2406
tion intensity, pH and redox condition and the Fe and
Mn content in the sediments. To be specific, for the
large lake or lake pelagic zone, the sediment could be
easily suspended, the nutrients in the sediment would
be easily released in short period, and aeration would
be sufficient. If the ferrous content increase with the
sediment resuspension and aeration at water-sediment
interface, the dredging measure would not be a good
option to control the internal loading[64]. But in small
lake or small lake bay, it is characterized by weak wind
and wave effect with anaerobic condition at the bottom
and the nutrient in pore water and release from sedi-
ment is usually higher. Therefore, dredging could be an
option[64]. How large a lake could be defined as a dy-
namic disturbed lake, which can be identified by a dy-
namic ratio determined as the square root of lake sur-
face area divided by lake depth suggested by Bach-
mann et al.[65]. It also could be identified by comparing
the mean water depth and the disturbed depth and de-
termining whether the sediment could resuspend[66].
(3) Biological measure to control the internal nutri-
ent loadings. For small lakes, microbial pharmaceu-
tics could remove the organisms, chlorophyll-a, ammo-
nium, and increase the dissolved oxygen in water col-
umn. Immobilized nitrous and nitrobacteria can trans-
form the ammonium in water and sediment into nitrate.
Immobilized denitrifying bacteria will make use of
some organics as carbon source for denitrification
which can remove the ammonium in water column [67].
In these small lakes, the dissolved oxygen (DO) con-
centration will increase obviously and concentration of
chemical oxygen demand (COD), total nitrogen (TN)
and total phosphorus (TP) will decrease sharply after
adding microbes. Along with the decrease and precipi-
tation of algae in water column, the transparency in-
creases significantly indicating the improvement of
water quality[68].
The aquatic plants are believed to be an effective
tool for improving the water quality in eutrophic lakes.
The purification of macrophytes includes absorbing
seston by the plant leaves and stems and assimilating
by microbes[69], precipitating suspended particulates
into the lake bottom to remove the particulate nutrients
from water column, and adsorbing the nutrients by the
plant root in sediment. The bio-floating carpet tech-
nique makes the cropping terrestrial plants at eutrophic
water surface possible. The principle of this technique
is purifying the eutrophic water by assimilating, ad-
sorbing and intercepting suspended particles throughout
Chinese Science Bulletin Vol. 51 No. 19 October 2006

the roots of plants, and by enriching the ammonium,
phosphorus and other pollutants to purify water[70]. For
submerged aquatic plants, the purification is achieved
throughout interception of seston by the periphytes at-
tached on the plant leaves, reduction of sediment re-
suspension to eliminate the particulate pollutants, and
adsorption and assimilation of the nutrients in the
sediment. Based on the principle of purification of
aquatic plants, some bionic techniques are developed.
The artificial mimic aquatic plants will be used to pu-
rify the water. These mimic aquatic plants can intercept
the sestons, assimilate nutrients via attached microbes
and periphytes. This water purifying experiment is
conducted in the Lake Taihu and preliminary result
suggests that this technique is applicable to removing
sestons, increasing the water transparence and reducing
TN, TP concentration[71,72].
4.2 Ecological restoration to control the eutrophica-
tion
Ecological restoration for eutrophic lake can re-
duce the internal nutrient release from the sediment by
containing the sediment from resuspension and control-
ling the algal bloom by competing the nutrients[73,74]. It
is proved that the nutrient release from sediment could
be significantly reduced and the water quality could be
improved if there exist submerged macrophytes in the
lake[75]. The reason is that the aquatic plants could in-
hibit the sediment resuspension and intercept the
sestonic nutrients in water column, and block the pre-
vailing of algae bloom. The key is how to achieve the
shift from algae dominated ecosystem to macrophyte
dominated ecosystem. According to Scheffer et al.[62],
both phytoplankton and macrophyte dominant ecosys-
tem are stable status of lake ecosystem and exchange-
able under certain conditions. The ambient environment
changes result in the stress imposed on the lakes eco-
systems. If this stress from the change in ambient con-
ditions is limited in the range in which the ecosystem
could resile to original state, the system will be restored
when the external stress is removed. If the external
stress is greater than the critical threshold at which the
ecosystem could not resile to original state, the sudden
drastic shift of ecosystem will happen, and the new
ecosystem is fitting the changed environmental condi-
tions[76].
Long-term observation in Lake Veluwe in Nether-
lands indicated that with the increase in nutrient con-
centration, the original macrophyte dominant ecosys-
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ARTICLES
tem will collapse and shift to phytoplankton dominant
ecosystem and tend to become stable. This means that
the external imposed stress exceeding critical threshold
of the resilience can result in the ecosystem switch to
contrasting state. On the other hand, with decrease in
nutrient concentration, the ecosystem will not restore to
the original macrophyte dominant state until the nutri-
ent concentration becomes lower than the critical
threshold value (Fig. 1)[77]. This distinguished sample
clearly demonstrates the relationship between the envi-
ronment stress (it is nutrient concentration in this sam-
ple) and lake ecosystem response switching from one
state to the contrasting state.
Fig. 1. The nutrient concentration (TP) increasing gradually from
1960s to 1970s in Lake Veluwe, Netherlands (denoted by the arrow).
With increase in TP concentration up to 0.15 mg/L, the coverage of
aquatic plant in the lake decreased drastically. During the 1980’s and the
1990’s, the nutrient concentration (TP) decreased because of the reduc-
tion of pollutant emission, but the coverage of aquatic plant was not
restored until the TP reduced to lower than 0.08 mg/L[77].
From the ecosystem shifts in Lake Veluwe, it is sug-
gested that the macrophyte-dominated ecosystem will
be unstable during the eutrophicating when the trophic
level increases to some value. If TP concentration in
Lake Veluwe is about 0.15mg/L or higher, any external
perturbation would make the macrophyte dominant
ecosystem collapse. Only if the nutrient concentration
drops to some threshold value, i.e. TP less than 0.08
mg/L in Lake Veluwe, the algae-dominated ecosystem
would become unstable and be replaced by macro-
phyte-dominated system. The external perturbations
include the massive growing of periphyton attached on
the macrophytes, strong storms such as typhoon, high
water level, and the planktivores fish predation[78]. Al-
though the periphyton is capable of purifying the water,
massive development of the periphyton would seriously
affect the photosynthesis of aquatic plants in the eutro-
phic water. In terms of the experiments conducted in
2407
ARTICLES
Meiliang Bay, the periphytes will reduce the photosyn-
thetic rate of submerge macrophytes by 50% and some-
time as high as 90%[79]. The periphyton biomass in-
creasing with trophic status results in extinguishing of
aquatic plants in stead of prevailing of algae finally.
When the macrophyte-dominated system becomes un-
stable, a physical disturbance induced by wind and
wave will destroy the aquatic vegetation mechanically
and the macrophytes could not be restored, and the
system is transformed from a macrophyte dominated
into an algae dominated system, such as Lake Apopka
in Florida, USA[65] and Lake Ellesmere in New Zea-
land[80 82]. In addition, higher water stand resulting
―
from the flood also can make the transformation of lake
ecosystem, such as the Lake Okeechobee in Florida,
USA[11], Lake Tamnaren in Sweden[83,84] and Lake Rice
in Wisconsin, USA[85]. Moreover, the predation of
planktivores fish is a possible perturbation to switch the
ecosystem from one system to contrasting one, such as
the Lake Zwemlust in the middle of Netherlands[86,87]
and Lake Donghu in Wuhan, China[88]. These are well
documented lakes in which the ecosystem was trans-
formed due to the changes of external environment.
Macrophyte restoration experiments to improve wa-
ter quality started in China as early as midst of the
1990s. But so far there have been few successful trials,
such as ecological restoration experiments conducted in
Mashan, Lake Taihu[89], Wuli Bay and Lake Taihu[90,91],
Lake Xuanwu and Lake Mochou in Nanjing and Lake
Hongfeng in Guizhou Province[92]. These experiments,
basically, had restored the aquatic plant by improving
the environment such as introducing the enclosure to
separate the experimental area from the algal bloom
and pollutant source, reducing the suspended particu-
lates and increasing the water transparency, etc. For the
aquatic plant cropping, technique such as community
mosaic of aquatic plants was employed[92]. In all these
experiments, the water quality was remarkably im-
proved at the beginning along with the growth and de-
velopment of aquatic plants. But the artificially estab-
lished macrophyte dominant ecosystem collapsed with
dismantling the enclosure curtain which is necessary
for an amendment of the aquatic plant restoration. This
suggests that the healthy and stable aquatic ecosystem
dominated by macrophytes need a corresponding envi-
ronment which favors establishing such ecosystem. In
order to maintain this expected ecosystem, some envi-
ronment changes and the facilities would be perma-
nently necessary. Because our knowledge about the
2408
aquatic ecosystem is limited and insufficient to instruct
the restoration of eutrophic lakes, over emphasizing the
macrophyte planting could be unwise and blindness. In
stead, emphasizing the improvement of environment to
establish the macrophyte dominant system will be pru-
dent, because we have less knowledge about the rela-
tionship between the aquatic plants and aquatic fauna,
microbes and nutrients and we even could not identify
the reasons why some macrophyte is restored success-
fully and some is not. Following this idea, an ecosys-
tem engineering experiment about the macrophyte res-
toration for purifying water is conducted in the Meili-
ang Bay, Lake Taihu[78].
5 Implication for eutrophication control and lake
ecosystem management
The lake eutrophicating could be a natural process.
Human activities could superimpose the effect on this
natural process and speed up the eutrophication. Natu-
rally eutrophicating took place in the scale of centuries
and millenniums whereas the anthropologic eutrophi-
cating would happen in the time scale of decades[93].
For shallow lakes, the natural background of trophic
level is usually high, which means that these lakes
could be easily eutrophicated. The trophic history of
shallow lakes from middle and lower reaches in Yang
tze River provide the evidence to support this premise.
The natural eutrophication of these shallow lakes may
be associated with the flooding events. During flooding
period, enormous suspended particles and nutrients
from upstream catchment would be transported to
downstream and deposited in these depressive shallow
lakes. This is why the shallow lakes have high baseline
of trophic level than other lakes. Because these lakes
have high trophic status, it will be more difficult than
deep lakes to control the eutrophication if these shallow
lakes would be eutrophic. Moreover, massive nutrient
released following the sediment suspension induced by
wind and wave would result in less improvement of
water quality in short term even if all the external load-
ing is controlled. This could explain, in partially, why
the lake eutrophication in China is much more serious
than western countries, and why few eutrophic lakes
have been harness and restored. To prevent the lakes
from eutrophication is more important than to restore
the eutrophic lakes because it is economic and feasible
in China. This should be a common view for all people
who are engaging in lake protection and management.
To prevent the pollutants from emptying into the
Chinese Science Bulletin Vol. 51 No. 19 October 2006

lake, pollution sources control and emission reduction
are the top priority mission. People can not expect the
water quality improvement through ecological restora-
tion without control and reduction of pollutant sources.
Reduction of the pollutant loading should make use of
various characteristics of the pollutant transportation
and cycling, especially the feature of most phosphorus
in particulate form. In fact, some control techniques
already make use of this characteristic. In Lake Okee-
chobee, Florida, USA, for example, it is suggested to
build low dam to intercept the particle pollutants espe-
cially the particulate bound phosphorus, since most
suspended particulate pollutants are transported in low
layer near bottom[94].
For all the wetland plants along the shore, or float-
ing-leaf macrophytes, or submerged plants, the purifi-
cation function is similar at most, i.e. purifying water
by intercepting the particulate nutrients in the water
column or inhibiting the nutrient released following
sediment suspension. With this principle, it is suggested
to mount the bionics man-made medium for intercept-
ing the particle pollutants, concentrating the microbes,
protozoa and periphyton to assimilate the nutrients, and
to reduce the sediment resuspension as well. This tech-
nology has not been fully paid attention to so far.
The occurrence of algal bloom in lakes firstly re-
sulted from the nutrient increase. But for a certain
blooming, the induced factors and ambient are very
complicated, which includes physical parameters such
as temperature, wind wave-induced suspension and
light, etc, and geochemical parameters such as the
phosphorus constraint and organic phosphorus trans-
formation, and the biological factors such as population
competition and food chain structure. The reason of
Microcystis to become dominant species in eutrophic
water is related to its physiological characteristic since
it could move with vacuole. This characteristic makes
the Microcystis favor competition for unevenly distrib-
uted nutrients and light in shallow lakes. Microcystis
can resist against ultraviolet radiation, which could
have competition advantage in lower transparency in
shallow lakes. Finally, it is also more difficult to control
or reduce the algal bloom in eutrophic shallow lakes
than deep lakes because of the “shallowness”.
In the east of China along the Yangtze River, there is
a largest freshwater shallow lake group. Many lakes
from this area are suffering from the eutrophication.
Ecological restoration for these shallow eutrophic lakes
is necessary. The wind-wave induced sediment suspen-
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ARTICLES
sion not only brings the nutrients into water column,
but also reduces the water transparency. When the
aquatic plants grow, the sediment suspension will be
effectively inhibited and the water transparency will be
increased. To restore the aquatic plants and establish
macrophyte dominated ecosystem, it is necessary to
produce a good environment condition for macrophyte
restoration. These conditions include reducing the nu-
trient loadings so as to eliminate the inhibition of
aquatic plant photosynthesis by periphyton, attenuating
the mechanical impairment by the wind and wave, in-
creasing the water transparency by reducing the sus-
pended particles and water level, changing the redox in
sediment and minimizing the fish predation. Because
all lakes are different in environmental conditions, it is
necessary to make diagnosis about the lake ecosystem
before applying the restoration countermeasures, and
then design different restoring strategies according to
the characteristics of environment and ecosystem of
lakes. Doctrinally and indiscriminately copying the
various techniques and applying in lake eutrophication
control are worthless. At present, it is somewhat blind-
ness to emphasize the macrophyte planting, because it
is still unclear about the relationship between the
aquatic plants and other plants, aquatic animals, the
microbial loop structure and nutrients. Whether the
aquatic plant can be restored successfully can not be
explained clearly. To emphasize the improvement of
environment rather than macrophyte planting, therefore,
is better option. With improvement of environment, the
macrophyte-dominated lake ecosystems will be natu-
rally and gradually restored. When the macro-
phyte-dominated lake ecosystem is successfully estab-
lished, some facilities amending the environment could
be removed and some need permanently existed. This
should be determined in terms of situation of aquatic
system. It is believed that the control of eutrophic lakes
will be more successful with this new strategy.
Acknowledgements The authors thank Prof. Xie Ping for
his constructive suggestions on the preparation and revision
of this manuscript. This work was supported by the Knowl-
edge Innovation Project of Chinese Academy of Sciences
(Grant No. KXCZ1-SW-12) and the Ministry of Science and
Technology of China (Grant No. 2002AA601011).
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