PE EIE[R-Rg RESEARCH ON - HJ Andrews Experimental Forest

more similar than between the different subsystems
. For example, the processes in the
water column involving exchanges betwee n
nutrients, algae, shortlived zooplankton, and
bacteria can better be handled by a singl e
team than by several teams, each interested i n
a specific trophic level. Further, this information
may have to be handled on a daily o r
hourly basis, whereas the higher consumer
production, e .g., fish, will be handled on a
seasonal basis .
Studies Planned for 1973-74
The individual studies tentatively planne d
for 1973 and 1974 for the four lakes are
shown in table 2 . These are described briefl y
here. The interface study specific to th e
Findley Lake watershed is described in th e
previous paper .
Water Column Process Studie s
The categories and relationships are show n
in figure 8. Much of the past work in th e
Cedar River drainage lakes defined the annua l
nutrient supply to Lake Sammamish an d
Figure 8 . Categories and relationships of sub-syste m
(C)a ; water column processes .
documented its rate of recovery compared t o
that of Lake Washington as a result of nutrient
diversion. Recently, limnological conditions
have been monitored in Chester Mors e
and Findley Lakes to compare their trophi c
character with that of Lakes Sammamish an d
Washington . Ultimate objective is to develop a
model with enough generality to encompas s
the range in trophic character now observabl e
among the lakes .
Lake Washington responded rapidly to a
diversion of over one-half its annual supply o f
phosphorous . Edmondson (1970) has documented
its recovery to a trophic state simila r
to that recorded over 20 years ago in a matte r
of only 3 years after the completion and 7
years after the beginning of sewage diversion .
Lake Sammamish, a mesotrophic lake wit h
similar flushing time, located only 10 miles t o
the east of Lake Washington, has no t
responded noticeably in 3 years following
nutrient diversion . Possible reasons for this
difference in rate of response involve th e
morphometry of the two lakes .
The nutrient input to the lake and the
levels of dissolved inorganic nutrients will b e
related to the growth and production of
phytoplankton and its consumption by zoo -
plankton . These studies will be in sufficient
detail to examine changes in species composition
and the importance of size categories a s
they may relate to optimum feeding strategies.
More detailed, but less frequent estimates
of the flow of carbon through all
components of the food web will be made by
the techniques of Saunders (1969) usin g
radioactive bicarbonate, radioactive detritus ,
and radioactive dissolved organics . Both of
these field-oriented studies will be correlate d
with the modeling on the dynamics of nutrient
distribution and flow through aquatic ecosystems.
A deferred study concerns the rol e
of fungal parasites on algae to explore the
hypothesis that algal blooms may cease
through disease processes, rather than throug h
the limitation of nutrients .
The mathematical models which have been
developed to explain the production dynamic s
of phytoplankton production admit that the
concentration of phytoplankton may vary continuously
from the surface to the lake bottom .
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