Sixty Years of Lake Washington: a Curriculum Vitae

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this paper is to list known disturbances of Lake Washington, to describe the effect on the lake of several of them, and to discuss results in terms of whole-lake quasi-experiments. Eutrophication with treated sewage effluent and the diversion of effluent are treated as experiments, with nutrient manipulation, which change the phytoplankton community structure. A later unexpected increase in transparency is traced through a chain of predators to flood control measures in the largest inlet. An increase in alkalinity, accompanied by changes in phytoplankton, is attributed to real estate land development. The role of paleolimnological information is illustrated.

Key Words:

• whole-lake quasi-experiments
• land-lake interactions
• eutrophication
• plankton community structure
• predation