Relationships between planktonic diatoms and environmental variability in two high mountain lakes, during ten consecutive ice-free periods

Relationships between planktonic diatoms and environmental variability in two high-mountain lakes, during ten consecutive ice-free periods - The diversity and fluctuations of diatoms and their relationships with environmental variables were studied in Colbricon Superiore and Inferiore, two small high-mountain lakes located in the Paneveggio-Pale di S. Martino Natural Park (Trento, Italy). The lakes were monitored and sampled monthly, during ten ice-free periods, from 1998 to 2007, to analyse water chemical and physical characteristics and to study diversity and abundance of diatoms. 78 taxa of Bacillariophyceae were found, among which Cyclotella spp., Tabellaria flocculosa and Fragilaria spp. predominated. Both chemical data and diatom community composition are consistent with wellbuffered mesotrophic lakes. Diatom dynamics resulted statistically related to water temperature variations.