Sigmoid Relationships between Nutrients and Chlorophyll among Lakes

Abstract

Previous studies of freshwater eutrophication have shown that algal biomass tends to increase with the supply of dissolved phosphorus. This concept has been condensed into empirical relationships between chlorophyll a and total phosphorus concentrations (convenient measures of algal biomass and phosphorus availability) which have become essential tools in theoretical and applied limnology. With few exceptions, ecologists accept the idea that chlorophyll concentration rises linearly with phosphorus concentration among lakes. Such a suggestion runs counter to Liebigian principles of fertilization however, and contradicts laboratory and field research indicating the influence of other nutrients. Our analysis of two large independent phosphorus–chlorophyll data sets from temperate-zone lakes shows that log phosphorus–log chlorophyll relationships are sigmoid in shape and that a second nutrient, nitrogen, has a significant impact on chlorophyll concentrations when phosphorus availability is high. Our new empirical relationships indicate that mechanisms regulating algal biomass change with enrichment, and suggest new management strategies for polluted lakes.