The current problems of Lake Baikal ecosystem conservation

The greatest world reservoir of fresh water, the unique Lake Baikal, is at risk from anthropogenic influence. Three stages of economic activity in the lake region can be distinguished: (i) poor economic uses, (ii) increase of economic uses after the construction of the hydropower station dam on the outflow of the lake, and (iii) intensive increase of economic activity, characterized by the intensive use of mineral fertilizers, transportation, log rafting, growth of population around Baikal, mass development of tourism, the construction of the Baikal-Amur railroad and pulp combines. Chemical and biological pollution of the lake, fishing and hunting, the state of coasts and protected areas are discussed. The regions most affected are listed. The greater long-term influence is an increase in the mineralization of tributary waters due to forest cutting and land cultivation. Though the influence does not cause a decline in water quality, the properties of the Baikalian water in local sites of pollution can significantly differ from their initial state. The quality of water, however, is within the limits of requirements for fresh drinking water.     

Recent quantitative values of Macrohectopus branickii (Dyb.) (amphipoda) from Lake Baikal

Macrohectopus branickii is the only amphipod with an exclusively pelagic lifestyle. Although this species plays an important role in the diet of pelagic fish of Lake Baikal, there is no regular monitoring of its abundance. We present data on the status of the population from a lake-wide 2015 survey and compare these data with available historical information. The survey was conducted with a modified Juday net and simultaneous hydroacoustics profiling from up to 700 m depth to the surface. The abundance of M. branickii in the pelagic zone over depths >300 m in 2015 averaged 1700 ind/m² (range 320–4090 ind/m²) and the biomass averaged 3.7 g/m² (range 1.1–14.4 g/m²). Sites with the greatest abundance of M. branickii were located in the South and Middle Basins off the eastern shore. These values are comparable to the published data from 1950s to 1980s. The characteristics of nearshore aggregations of larger mature females were more variable and need further study.     

Lake Baikal: Model for sustainable development of the territory

Created 20–30 million years ago, Lake Baikal is one of approximately 13 ancient lakes in the world. Lake Baikal is also the deepest lake in the world with 365 rivers flowing into it and holding a full 20% of the liquid fresh water on the surface of the Earth. The lake stretches from the south‐eastern section of Siberia to portions of northern Mongolia. Administratively, it is divided between three members of the Russian Federation: the Republic of Buryatia, Irkutsk Oblast and Chita Oblast. Lake Baikal and its catchment area are characterized by considerable biodiversity and by a vast richness of natural resources. Well over half of the 2615 plant and animal species found in the Baikal region are endemic. Lake Baikal’s unusual biota includes the Baikal seal (Phoca sibirica) which lives nowhere else on Earth and is separated by 3220 km from its nearest relative. These freshwater seals give birth to their young in snow dens on the lake’s ice. The Baikal region is a spectacular example of coexistence among different cultures and faiths over centuries. Over 1000 archaeological remains of past cultures have been found near Lake Baikal shores. Preserving the unique lake culture, values and ecological, ethnic and cultural traditions of the local people is one of the key elements in developing a model for sustainable development in the Baikal region. Lake Baikal is currently still considered clear and healthy overall, however the number and type of pollution sources are growing, and local pollution can be severe. The main sources of pollution in Lake Baikal are industrial wastes and atmospheric emissions from the Baikalsk pulp and paper mill, atmospheric emissions from nearby industrial facilities, excessive nutrient loads from farming and sediment and wastes that flow into Lake Baikal through the Selenga River. In May 1999, protection of Lake Baikal was codified in federal law for the first time. Progress is being made on a number of fronts despite the turbulent political transformations in Russia in the last 10 years. For instance, in the Irkutsk region, stakeholders have worked together to reduce the flow of unpurified drainage into the lake by 10 million m³ year^–1.     

The Distribution of Diatoms Near a Thermal Bar in Lake Baikal

Studies of the spatial distribution of suspended matter and of diatoms across a thermal bar in Lake Baikal revealed that waters sinking at the thermal bar front (2 km off-shore) move to the bottom along the underwater slope, and may be traced to a depth of at least 700 m, 5 km off-shore. The distributions of 11 diatom species across the thermal bar were significantly different, reflecting their different ecological requirements. Maximum concentrations of Asterionella formosa, Nitzschia acicularis, Aulacoseira islandica occur near the shore. The distribution of Stephanodiscus hantzschii, a species characteristic of the Selenga River, suggests that riverine waters penetrate far into the lake along its eastern shore. Another species typical of the Selenga River, Stephanodiscus minutulus, was found both near the shore, and in the surface waters of the open lake. Endemic spring baikalian diatoms Aulacoseira baicalensis and Cyclotella baicalensis were found at highest concentrations in the deep waters far off-shore, beyond the thermal bar. Another endemic diatom, the autumn species Cyclotella minuta was evenly distributed over the open lake at all depths. The data obtained shed new light on the dynamics of water masses near thermal bars, and on the ecology of the diatom species studied.     

Lake Erie Research: Recent Results,Remaining Gaps

Evidence that oxygen depletion rates in the central basin hypolimnion were increasing and would lead to increasingly severe late summer anoxia resulted in a large public investment in both the U.S. and Canada to construct sewage treatment plants in order to reduce the phosphorus load to Lake Erie. Improvements in the water quality indicators, phosphorus and chlorophyll, have been achieved in the decade since these measures went into effect. There is no clear evidence, however, for a corresponding “recovery” in hypolimnetic oxygen depletion. It is now recognized that physical processes, driven by winds and solar heating with strong interannual fluctuations, influence the timing and severity of late-summer anoxia, and make it difficult to detect long-term trends. As a result of the 1979 and 1980 intensive field experiments, many of the physical processes are better understood, better documented, and new possibilities exist for improved numerical hydrodynamical modeling. Systems modelers have exploited the voluminous Lake Erie data to generate convincing water quality models that account for the physical variability as well as simulating biochemical parameters. In some respects the modelers have pushed beyond the frontiers of established knowledge of biochemical processes and thus challenge process-oriented researchers to confirm or reject their findings. A consensus is forming among Lake Erie researchers that the key to understanding the lake's response to changing external loading lies in a detailed understanding of the sediment/water interaction. Study of sediment-water interactions calls for interdisciplinary efforts that will involve physicists, biologists, chemists, and modelers. An appendix to this paper lists specific research recommendations.     

ICHD' 2018 The 13th International Conference on Hydrodynamics First Announcement

September 2-6,2018 Sheraton Grand Inchecon Hotel Songdo,Incheon KoreaThe 13th International Conference on Hydrodynamics(ICHD'2018)will be held in Incheon,Korea on 2-6 September,2018.The first International Conference on Hydrodynamics(ICHD)was initiated in 1994 in Wuxi,China.Since then,12 more ICHD conferences were held in Hong Kong,Seoul,Yokohama,Tainan,     

ICHD' 2018 The 13th International Conference on Hydrodynamics First Announcement

正September 2-6,2018 Sheraton Grand Inchecon Hotel Songdo,Incheon Korea The 13th International Conference on Hydrodynamics(ICHD’2018)will be held in Incheon,Korea on 2-6 September,2018.The first International Conference on Hydrodynamics(ICHD)was initiated in 1994 in Wuxi,China.Since then,12 more ICHD conferences were     

Foreword: Stressors and successes,Lake Ontario CSMI intensive year 2018

As the human population of the Lake Ontario basin continues to grow, targeted research and monitoring activities to inform adaptive management are increasingly important for protecting the Lake Ontario ecosystem. As the most downstream of the Great Lakes, the Lake Ontario ecosystem is under pressure from a wide range of stressors including chemical contaminants and invasive species. This special issue highlights the broad network of binational research and monitoring efforts by federal, state, and provincial agencies and academic partners that took place during the 2018 Cooperative Science and Monitoring Initiative (CSMI) field year for Lake Ontario. The research and monitoring by creative and collaborative teams assembled under the umbrella of CSMI 2018 includes projects that investigated a wide variety of factors impacting the lake ecosystem, ranging from physics to chemistry and biology. This issue also provides examples of data sharing/synthesis and modeling tools that promote the use of these extensive datasets to explore ecosystem management options. The research and monitoring outcomes from CSMI 2018 provide managers with current information on the Lake Ontario ecosystem to inform decision making and guide restoration and protection efforts.     

Current state of phytoplankton in the littoral area of Lake Baikal,spring 2017

To assess the current state of phytoplankton in the littoral area of Lake Baikal and provide a baseline for future comparisons, we sampled spring plankton communities from the 44 littoral and 3 pelagic stations covering all three basins of the lake. The study examined chemical parameters of water (NH₄⁺, NO₂⁻, NO₃⁻, PO₄⁻³, Si, COD), species composition, abundance, and biomass of phytoplankton in Lake Baikal during late spring 2017. Sharp spatial heterogeneity was observed in the distribution of phytoplankton biomass along the western (399 ± 72 mg/m³) and eastern (1319 ± 220 mg/m³) shores of the lake. The phytoplankton were diverse, with 79 species; dominant algae were different from site to site and from south to north throughout the lake. In Southern and Central Baikal, we recorded an intense bloom of the diatom Synedra acus subsp. radians (28–1400 cells/mL), similar to that observed for the past 10 years, while the chrysophyte Dinobryon cylindricum dominated in Northern Baikal. The diatoms Aulacoseira baicalensis, A. islandica, and Stephanodiscus meyeri that were dominant in the 1960s–1990s were not numerous in 2017 (0.5–10 cells/mL). This change in dominant species indicates structural changes in the phytoplankton of Lake Baikal, which have led to the disappearance of the main distinctive feature of the Baikalian phytoplankton – the alternation of extremely high (with the algal biomass over 1000 mg/m³) and extremely low (less than 100 mg/m³) productivity years. The ecological equilibrium appears to have shifted towards a new steady state.     

ICHD' 2018 The 13th International Conference on Hydrodynamics First Announcement September 2-6, 2018 Sheraton Grand Inchecon Hotel Songdo,Incheon Korea

正The 13th International Conference on Hydrodynamics(ICHD’2018)will be held in Incheon,Korea on 2-6 September,2018.The first International Conference on Hydrodynamics(ICHD)was initiated in 1994 in Wuxi,China.Since then,12 more ICHD conferences were held in Hong Kong,Seoul,Yokohama,Tainan,Perth,Ischia,Nantes,Shanghai,St Petersburg,     

Influence of water motion on the spatial distribution of Spirogyra in Lake Baikal

We investigated the diversity of benthic algal communities as well as phytoplankton in Lake Baikal. The structure of benthic algal communities changed in comparison to the period before 2000 due to intense development of filamentous algae, particularly Spirogyra. Percent cover of filamentous algae in different areas of the coastal zone varied from 0 to 100%. The lowest Spirogyra biomass was recorded in the surf and wave-breaking zones, whereas the highest biomass was observed in the area of the bottom less affected by waves. Fragments of Spirogyra thallomes were also recorded in the phytoplankton community of Lake Baikal's southern basin which is a new phenomena not previously recorded in the lake. Hydraulic characteristics of Spirogyra were similar to those of planktonic diatoms. Currents and wave effects on the bottom favored transfer and distribution of Spirogyra from locations with intense development to the coastal area of Lake Baikal. Spirogyra is now found throughout Lake Baikal.     

Vitaliyi Cheslavovich Dorogostaisky: A Pioneer Investigator of the Flora and Fauna of Lake Baikal

V. Ch. Dorogostaisky was born in Irkutsk Province, and devoted much of his professional work to the study of Lake Baikal, Siberia, and its surrounding region. His studies spanned the first third of the 20th Century, beginning at the time when only isolated investigations of the lake were made. He organized and contributed to the shift toward systematic, sustained studies conducted by groups of specialists. His own contributions included both basic and applied efforts. Although he collected algae and vascular plants and described new species, Dorogostaisky devoted his principal attention in limnology to invertebrates and fish. He appears to have grasped the fundamentals of fish management and fur farming well ahead of the development of the technology. His most noteworthy contribution to basic science was his realization that the ecological speciation among the gammarids and fish of Baikal was a recent phenomenon. At a time when the very origin and antiquity of the lake itself was not known, he essentially documented adaptive radiation. Dorogostaisky's evidence impressed Cockrell (1927) to parallel Baikal's faunistic evolution with that of the Hawaiian Islands.     

Temporal and spatial variability of phytoplankton in Lake Poyang: The largest freshwater lake in China

The composition and both the temporal and spatial distribution of phytoplankton were studied in Lake Poyang; samples were collected every 3 months from January 2009 to October 2011 at 15 sites. The phytoplankton community was found to belong to seven groups, with Bacillariophyta dominating. No significant difference was observed in the phytoplankton community structure at any of the sites (p = 0.2371), except one site; however, the structure was significantly different with regard to annual and seasonal trends (p = 0.0001 and p < 0.0001, respectively). Aulacoseira granulata, Synedra acus, Fragilaria virescens, and Cryptomonas erosa were the main contributors to the dissimilarity in temporal distribution. Although the nutrient concentrations for 3 years combined were relatively high (mean total nitrogen was 1.719 mg L^− 1 and mean total phosphorus was 0.090 mg L^− 1), phytoplankton biomass was low (mean total biomass of 0.203 mg L^− 1). The underwater light condition, as indicated by the Secchi depth, was shown to be the principal limiting factor in regulating the growth of phytoplankton, and the transparency coincided with biomass variation on a seasonal level. The effect of nutrients on phytoplankton may be concealed by the water level, which varied over a wide range among different seasons. However, the annual trend for the biomass was associated with the nutrient concentration, which increased yearly and initiated the development of phytoplankton. The biomass is high in the south and low in the north, which may be the result of greater underwater light climate and high nutrient concentrations in the southern area.