Limnological research in the deep southern subalpine lakes: synthesis, directions and perspectives

Figures & data

Figure 1. Geographical location of the deep southern subalpine lakes (DSL) in northern Italy.

Table 1. Morphometric and hydrological characteristics of the deep southern subalpine lakes (DSL) in Northern Italy.

	Garda	Iseo	Como	Lugano^1	Maggiore
Altitude (m a.s.l.)	65	186	198	271	193
Area (km^2)	368	62	146	28	213
Maximum depth (m)	350	251	410	288	370
Mean depth (m)	133	123	154	171	178
Volume (km^3)	49.03	7.57	22.5	4.69	37.5
Catchment area (km^2)	2290	1842	4508	297	6599
Mean outflow discharge (m^3 s^−1)	58.4	58.7	158.0	12.0	291.3
Renewal time (years)	26.6	4.1	4.5	12.4	4.1
Cryptodepression (m)	285	65	212	17	177
^1Northern basin.

Table 2. Principal limnological studies carried out since 1995 in the deep southern subalpine lakes (DSL). Studies carried out on two or more lakes are reported under ‘DSL’.

	Garda	Iseo	Como	Lugano	Maggiore	DSL
MorGeo		1	2
Hydrol	3,4		5–8	9	10–12	13
Physic	14–16	17	18,19	20–22	23–28	29–35
Geoche	36,37		38	39–57	58–61	62
Eutrop	63–66	67–69		70	71–74	75–79
Phytop	80–86	87	88–91	92	93–102	103,104
Zoopla	105,106				107–124
MicEco				125	126–140	141,142
Bentho	143–146	147	148–150		151,152
Fishes	153				154–160	161
Birds			162–164	165,166
Parasi	167,168		169,170			171,172
Ecotox		173–175	176–179	180	181–210	211–218
Paleol					219	220,221
RemSen	222–227	228,229				230
For every group (in square brackets), papers have been listed by year of publication. MorGeo, morphometric and geological studies; Hydrol, hydrology; Physic, physical limnology; Geoche, geochemistry; Eutrop, algal nutrients and eutrophication; Phytop, phytoplankton; Zoopla, zooplankton; MicEco, microbial ecology; Bentho, benthos; Fishes, fishes; Birds, birds; Parasi, micro- and macroparasites; Ecotox, ecotoxicology; Paleol, paleolimnology; RemSen, remote sensing.

Figure 2. Ordination of the DSL and research topics in the correspondence analysis plane defined by the first two axes. Research topics have been coded as in Table 2. Gar, Garda; Ise, Iseo; Com, Como; Lug, Lugano, Mag, Maggiore; DSL, deep southern subalpine lakes.

Figure 3. Volume-weighted mean lake temperature from the beginning of the 1970s to 2009 (updated from 79). (a) Garda; (b) Iseo; (c) Como; (d) Maggiore. Measurements were made during spring, at the time of maximum overturn. Data are smoothed using the LOWESS procedure. Dashed lines show the Theil-Sen slopes of the linear trends. For every temperature series, various statistics have been computed: MK, Mann–Kendall test 245; BS-MK, Bootstrap-based MK test with 10000 replications 245; TFPW-MK, trend-free pre-whitening procedure (TFPW) and MK test 246; TS-slope, Theil-Sen's slope estimates (°C year⁻¹) 245.

Figure 4. Volume-weighted average concentrations of (a) total phosphorus in the whole lake and (b) dissolved oxygen in the layer below 200 m from the beginning of the 1970s to 2008. The series are based on measurements carried out at the time of maximum overturn during spring (updated from Refs 75,76,79).

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