Developing Biological Tools for Monitoring of Lake Ohrid in Accordance to European Water Framework Directive -Final Report
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Developing Biological Tools for Monitoring of Lake Ohrid in accordance to European Water Framework Directive -Final Report- Ohrid-Durres, 2013 1 Acknowledgments Special acknowledgments to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway as the main and only financer of the project`s activities. Acknowledgment and gratitude to all individuals and institutions participated and contributed for the successful completion of the project. 2 Table of Contents Contents Summary ..................................................................................................................................................... 5 Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 6 Objectives and Scope ............................................................................................................................ 6 PHYSICAL CHEMICAL PARAMETERS ................................................................................................ 9 Methodology ............................................................................................................................................ 9 Results and Discussion ......................................................................................................................... 9 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 15 BENTHIC DIATOM ALGAE .................................................................................................................... 16 Methodology .......................................................................................................................................... 16 Results and Discussions ..................................................................................................................... 16 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 20 MACROPHYTE VEGETATION.............................................................................................................. 21 Methodology .......................................................................................................................................... 21 Results and Discussion ....................................................................................................................... 21 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 24 BENTHIC FAUNA (MACROZOOBENTHOS) ...................................................................................... 25 Methodology .......................................................................................................................................... 25 Results and Discussion ....................................................................................................................... 25 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 28 General Recommendations .................................................................................................................... 30 List of Figures Figure 1: Researched localities in Lake Ohrid ...................................................................................... 8 -1 Figure 2: Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD5), mg l O2 for 2010 .................................................. 9 -1 Figure 3: Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD5), mg l O2 for 2010 ................................................ 10 -1 Figure 4: Organic matter (consumption of KMnO4) mg l for 2010 .................................................. 10 -1 Figure 5: Organic matter (consumption of KMnO4) mg l for 2011 .................................................. 11 3 Figure 6: Concentration of total phosphorus, g l-1 TP for 2010 ....................................................... 11 Figure 7: Concentration of total phosphorus, g l-1 TP for 2011 ....................................................... 12 Figure 8: Concentration of total nitrogen, g l-1 TN for 2010 ............................................................. 13 Figure 9: Concentration of total nitrogen, g l-1 TN for 2011 ............................................................. 13 Figure 10: Trophic state index based on concentration of total phosphorus and transparency for 2010 ............................................................................................................................................................ 14 Figure 11: Trophic state index based on concentration of total phosphorus and transparency for 2011 ............................................................................................................................................................ 14 Figure 12: Number of species in July 2010 .......................................................................................... 16 Figure 13: Number of species in July 2011 .......................................................................................... 16 Figure 14: Diversity Index in July 2010 ................................................................................................. 17 Figure 15: Diversity Index in July 2011 ................................................................................................. 17 Figure 16: Trophic Index for Diatoms 2010 .......................................................................................... 18 Figure 17: Trophic Index for Diatoms 2011 .......................................................................................... 18 Figure 18: Trophic Index for Diatoms .................................................................................................... 19 Figure 19: Saprobic Index ....................................................................................................................... 19 Figure 20: Macrophyte index for entire lake (average)....................................................................... 22 Figure 21: Macrophyte index of shallow water 0-2m .......................................................................... 23 Figure 22: Macrophyte index for deeper water >10 ........................................................................... 23 Figure 23: Endemic and cosmopilitan species ration in Lake Ohrid ................................................ 26 Figure 24: Biodiversity of benthic fauna in Lake Ohrid-“depth distribution” .................................... 26 Figure 25: Density comparison: spring vs. fall ..................................................................................... 27 Figure 26: Ecological status of the sampling sites in lake Ohrid-spring period .............................. 27 Figure 27: Ecological status of the sampling sites in lake Ohrid-fall period .................................... 28 List of Tables Table 1: Number of sites per Trophic Index for Diatoms ................................................................... 19 Table 2: Number of sites per Saprobic Index ...................................................................................... 19 Table 1: Number of sites per Nutrient Pollution ................................................................................... 23 4 Summary Lake Ohrid is an ancient lake of huge importance for the countries that share it from economic, socio-cultural and other perspectives. Likewise, it is actually a world`s interest as well, since it has been proclaimed as a World Heritage protected site, since 1979. Besides these attributes, the lake is very important and appealing for scientists as well, due to its age, the endemic and relic living world. The need of a project as the Developing Biological Tools for Monitoring of Lake Ohrid according to European Framework Directive, has emerged as logical next step, after considering the continuous anthropogenic impact to the ecosystem`s functionality and the need of harmonization of water legislative between the two countries and the EU. There were considered four mandatory components for the monitoring of Lake Ohrid, at 30 localities, during two-year period (2010-2011). The components include: physic-chemical parameters, benthic diatom algae, macrophyte vegetation and benthic fauna (macrozoobenthos), sampled 4 times, once, once and two times per year, respectively. In the end, there have been collected and analyzed by unified methodology (according to EWFD) 360, 120, 360 and 30 samples from Water Chemistry, Hydrobotany, Macrozoobenthos and Diatoms, in that order. The project resulted in the development of monitoring tools and creation of database, which would be used in the future as the bases for the development of investigative and operational types of monitoring. The valuable results which have been obtained during the project have already been or are in the phase of publishing in numerous, international journals, which will assist in the actualization of the Lake Ohrid environmental issues. 5 Introduction Worldwide ancient lakes have been a major focal point of biological and ecological research. Ancient lakes can be found on most continents and climate zones with most actual or putative ancient lakes in Europe being restricted to the Balkan Region. The arguably most outstanding