Michigan Inland Lakes Partnership

The gradual increase of lake productivity from oligotrophy to eutrophy is called lake aging or eutrophication. Lake eutrophication is a natural process resulting from the gradual accumulation of nutrients, increased productivity, and a slow filling in of the lake basin with accumulated sediments, silt, and muck. Human activities can greatly speed up this process by dramatically increasing nutrient, soil, or organic matter input to the lake. This human influenced, accelerated lake aging process is known as cultural eutrophication. A primary objective of most lake management plans is to slow down cultural eutrophication by reducing the input of nutrients and sediments to the lake from the surrounding land.

Measuring a lake’s water quality and eutrophication is not an easy task. Lakes are a complex ecosystem made up of physical, chemical, and biological components in a constant state of action and interaction.

As on land, plant growth in lakes is not constant throughout the summer. Some species mature early in the season, die back, and are replaced by other species in a regular succession. 

While overall population levels often reach a maximum in mid-summer, this pattern is influenced or altered by numerous factors, such as temperature, rainfall, and aquatic animals. For the same reasons lakes are different from week to week, lake water quality can fluctuate from year to year.

Given these factors, observers of lake water quality must train themselves to recognize the difference between short-term, normal fluctuations and long-term changes in lake productivity (eutrophication). Many years of reliable data collected on a consistent and regular basis are required to separate true long-term changes in lake productivity from seasonal and annual fluctuations.

The above information was taken directly from the 2008 Annual Summary Report of Michigan’s Cooperative Lakes Monitoring Program, published by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (Report No. MI/DEQ/WB-09/005).

Important Measures of Eutrophication

Nutrients are the leading cause of eutrophication. Nitrogen and phosphorus both stimulate plant growth. Both are measured from samples of water and reported in units of ug/l (micrograms per liter), or ppb (parts per billion). Phosphorus is the most important nutrient, and is often used directly as a measure of eutrophication.

Plants are the primary users of nutrients. Chlorophyll a is a component of the cells of most plants, and can be used to measure the concentration of small plants in the water, such as algae. Chlorophyll a is measured from samples of water and reported in units of ug/l. Macrophytes are aquatic plants with stems and leaves. The location of different species of plants can be mapped, and the density can be measured in pounds of plants per acre of lake.

Transparency, or the clarity of water, is measured using a device known as a Secchi disk. This is an eight inch diameter target painted black and white in alternate quadrants. The disk is attached to a marked line, or measuring tape, and lowered from a boat into the lake. The distance into the water column the disk can be seen is the transparency, measured in feet or meters. A short distance of visibility means that there are suspended particles or algae cells in the water, an indication of nutrient enrichment.

Dissolved Oxygen (DO) which is oxygen dissolved in the water, is necessary to sustain fish populations. Fish, such as trout, require more DO than warm water species. Eutrophic lakes occasionally have levels of DO below the minimum for fish to survive, and fish kills can result.

Sediments can be measured to determine how fast material is depositing on the bottom. This may indicate watershed erosion, or a large die-off of aquatic plants.

Fish can be sampled using nets. In an oligotrophic lake there are likely to be cold water species, such as trout. Warm water fish, such as sunfish, bass, bullheads, and carp are more typical of a eutrophic lake.

Temperature affects the growth of plants, the release of nutrients, and the mixing of layers of water in the lake. Temperature measurements can determine if mixing occurs, moving nutrients from the lake bottom up into the surface waters promoting algae blooms.

The above information was taken directly from the 2008 Annual Summary Report of Michigan’s Cooperative Lakes Monitoring Program, published by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (Report No. MI/DEQ/WB-09/005).