What does the food chain tell us about the lake’s ecosystem?

Another successful season of the Lake Burtnieks ecosystem research project has concluded.  In 2014, investigation efforts were aimed at a detailed analysis of food chain. Under the leadership of IES, a multi-disciplinary team of researchers carried out field-surveys of nutrients, phytoplankton, zooplankton, zoobenthos, and hydro-botany. The advanced airborne remote sensing technology ARSENAL was used for the classification and biomass assessment of macrophytes.

The 2013 season results indicated the presence of large amounts of nutrients in the water of Lake Burtnieks which is one of the factors contributing to the continuous deterioration of the water quality. The research of the 2014 resulted with:

1. Quantitative data of fish communities survey using innovative field research methods;
2. Detailed vegetation measurements by using high resolution airborne remote sensing data;
3. A mathematical model for the prediction of possible effects of different management measures on the quality of Lake Burtnieks ecosystem.