Cyanobacterial blooms are tightly related to increasing trophic conditions of lakes and climate warming. Abiotic and biotic parameters were studied in a shallow lake, in which the island with the largest cormorants colony in north-eastern Poland is situated. We hypothesized that the strongest cyanobacterial blooms will persist near the cormorant’s island and will decrease with an increasing distance from it. Filamentous cyanobacteria (Pseudanabaena, Planktolyngbya, Limnothrix, Planktothrix) were the main phytoplankton components during summer and autumn. Their strongest blooms (up to 66 mg L⁻¹) were recorded near the roosting area. The content of nutrients and chlorophyll a, and the biomass of phytoplankton (primarily cyanobacteria) and zooplankton, decreased gradually with the increasing distance from the island. The changes from hypertrophic to eutrophic conditions were confirmed by a decrease in values of the trophic state index from 72 (site 1) to 58 (site 5). This all suggests that cormorants might have a significant impact on the deterioration of water quality (at distance to 1.6 km) and can contribute to faster water eutrophication. Our results suggest that protection of breeding sites for many waterbirds, such as cormorants, becomes a real threat for the functioning of aquatic ecosystems due to a large load of nutrients.

Global warming, eutrophication, fisheries overexploitation, species invasions, and habitat loss are the major threats to freshwater biodiversity. The aim of this study was to determine the species richness and diversity of fish in 535 Polish lakes of different morphometry (area of more than 50 ha and a maximum depth ranging from 0.4 to 108.5 m) and trophic status (from oligotrophy to hypereutrophy). A total of 39 fish species were found in the studied lakes, among which eight species were alien invasive. The Shannon diversity index varied between 0 and 2.04.The most common and frequent species were Rutilus rutilus (99.8% frequency) and Perca fluviatilis (99.6% frequency). Ten fish species, including five alien ones, were characterized by a very low frequency (<1%). The number of fish species in single lakes ranged from 1 to 19. In most of the studied lakes, 11 and 12 species (104 and 108 lakes, respectively) were caught. The richest taxonomic composition (19 species) was recorded in the meso-eutrophic lake with an area of 80 ha and a maximum depth of 34.4 m, slightly poorer (18 species) in the hypereutrophic lake with an area of 168 ha and a maximum depth of 2.7 m. The poorest taxonomic composition (one species) was found in a lake with low conductivity and circumneutral pH. Statistical analysis showed that the number of fish species decreased with increasing eutrophication conditions of the studied lakes, while it increased with an increasing area and the maximum depth of these lakes.

Cyanobacterial blooms have a strong impact on the food web structure, interactions and ecosystem functioning. The aim of this study was to describe the seasonal changes in composition and abundance of heterotrophic nanoflagellates, ciliates, rotifers, and crustaceans in relation to algae and nutrients in a shallow eutrophic lake (north-eastern Poland) dominated by cyanobacteria and exposed to the strong impact of cormorants. Our results showed that algae accounted for a small part of the total phytoplankton abundance (9–40%) and biomass (10–21%) and were dominated by diatoms and cryptophytes. All of the studied groups of planktonic organisms were quite rich in species (95 algal, 79 ciliate, 44 rotifer and 25 crustacean species) and relatively abundant. Copepods formed a substantial part (45–83%) of the total zooplankton biomass during all seasons. Relatively low algal to zooplankton biomass ratio (0.8–1.1) suggests that during spring, summer, and winter algae were not sufficient food resources for metazooplankton, which supplemented its diet with protists (heterotrophic nanoflagellates and ciliates). In a shallow lake dominated by cyanobacteria, winter (ice-covered period) may be a more favourable period for the growth of some groups of algae, ciliates and rotifers than other seasons due to decreasing abundance of cyanobacteria.

High content of humic substances and low pH values are factors limiting the species richness and abundance of some organisms in dystrophic lakes. Unfavourable winter conditions (i.e. low water temperature, poor light conditions, ice/snow cover) may additionally restrict their development. The aim of this study was to compare ice-on (winter) and ice-off (summer) abiotic (organic carbon, total phosphorus and nitrogen) and biotic (chlorophyll a, phytoplankton, ciliates, rotifers, crustaceans, fish) parameters in five dystrophic lakes of the Wigry National Park (north-east Poland). We tested the hypothesis that the abundance and diversity of planktonic organisms in dystrophic lakes could be lower in winter than in summer. Our results showed that the winter period, with ice and snow cover, was characterised by clearly higher oxygen concentrations, pH values and conductivity, but lower total phosphorus concentrations, species richness of phytoplankton, ciliates, rotifers and crustaceans, and phytoplankton to zooplankton biomass ratios in comparison to the summer. All of the studied groups of organisms, except rotifers, reached relatively high abundances and biomasses in both seasons and, in some lakes, they were higher in winter than in summer. Our results suggest that fish composition and abundance did not play an important role in structuring plankton communities. The small dystrophic lakes, although located close to one another, differed in terms of abiotic parameters and had specific species compositions of phyto- and zooplankton. Warmer winters, which are the result of climate change, may favour the intensive development of planktonic communities under the ice in dystrophic lakes of temperate climatic zones.

The aim of this study was to determine the impact of filamentous algae on the growth and survival of juvenile narrow-clawed crayfish, Astacus leptodactylus (Esch.), in rearing basins. Three stocking variants were used: A - basins with a layer of filamentous algae without imitation mineral substrate; B - basins with a layer of filamentous algae with imitation mineral substrate; C - basins without filamentous algae but with mineral substrate. The crayfish were reared from June 12 to October 10 under natural thermal conditions and fed a commercial feed. The results indicated that the presence of the filamentous algae did not have a statistically significant impact on the growth of the juvenile crayfish (P > 0.05). The presence of the filamentous algae had a strong negative impact on juvenile crayfish survival and stock biomass (P < 0.05). The layer of gravel and small stones that imitated the mineral substrate of natural aquatic basins somewhat neutralized the disadvantageous impact the filamentous algae had on the crayfish.