Lake Peipsi (3,555 km2, mean depth 7.1 m) located on the border of Estonia and Russia is the largest transboundary lake in Europe. L. Peipsi consists of three parts. The shared largest northern part L. Peipsi s.s. (2,611 km2, 8.3 m) and the southern L. Pihkva (708 km2, 3.8 m) which belongs mainly to Russia are connected by the river-shaped L. Lämmijärv (236 km2, 2.5 m). The catchment area (44,245 km2 without lake area) is shared between Estonia (33.3%), Russia (58.6%) and Latvia (8%). Intensive eutrophication of L. Peipsi started in the 1970s. The biomass of N2-fixing cyanobacteria was low at heavy nutrient loading in the1980s. After the collapse of soviet-type agriculture in the early 1990s, the loading of nitrogen sharply decreased. A certain improvement of L. Peipsi s.s. was noticed at the beginning of the 1990s together with the temporary reduction of phosphorus loading from Estonian catchment while in recent years a destabilisation of the ecosystem has been observed. This deterioration has been expressed mainly as intensive blue-green blooms and fish-kills in summer. Reappearance of blooms has been explained by the decrease in N/P loading ratio due to reduced N discharge while in some periods increased phosphorus loading could have supported this trend.
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
Research Article|
February 01 2005
Is the destabilisation of lake Peipsi ecosystem caused by increased phosphorus loading or decreased nitrogen loading?
T. Nõges;
*Institute of Zoology and Botany, Estonian Agricultural University, Võrtsjärv Limnological Station, 61101 Rannu, Tartumaa, Estonia (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected])
**Institute of Zoology and Hydrobiology, University of Tartu, Estonia
E-mail: [email protected]
Search for other works by this author on:
R. Laugaste;
R. Laugaste
*Institute of Zoology and Botany, Estonian Agricultural University, Võrtsjärv Limnological Station, 61101 Rannu, Tartumaa, Estonia (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected])
Search for other works by this author on:
E. Loigu;
E. Loigu
***Department of Environmental Engineering, Tallinn Technical University, Estonia (E-mail: [email protected])
Search for other works by this author on:
I. Nedogarko;
I. Nedogarko
****Valdai Department of GGI, Novgorod, Russia (E-mail: [email protected])
Search for other works by this author on:
B. Skakalski;
B. Skakalski
*****Russian Hydrometeorological University, St.-Petersburg, Russia (E-mail: [email protected])
Search for other works by this author on:
P. Nõges
P. Nõges
*Institute of Zoology and Botany, Estonian Agricultural University, Võrtsjärv Limnological Station, 61101 Rannu, Tartumaa, Estonia (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected])
**Institute of Zoology and Hydrobiology, University of Tartu, Estonia
Search for other works by this author on:
Water Sci Technol (2005) 51 (3-4): 267–274.
Citation
T. Nõges, R. Laugaste, E. Loigu, I. Nedogarko, B. Skakalski, P. Nõges; Is the destabilisation of lake Peipsi ecosystem caused by increased phosphorus loading or decreased nitrogen loading?. Water Sci Technol 1 February 2005; 51 (3-4): 267–274. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2005.0600
Download citation file:
Sign in
Don't already have an account? Register
Client Account
You could not be signed in. Please check your email address / username and password and try again.
Could not validate captcha. Please try again.
eBook
Pay-Per-View Access
$38.00