Abstract |
An investigation of seasonal changes in species diversity and biomass of phytoplankton, zooplankton, benthos, and fish in Lake Wingra, Madison, Wisconsin, was conducted during 1970 and 1971. The objective was to obtain ecological data on the biological components of an aquatic ecosystem and to utilize these data along with concurrent chemical data to aid the development of systems models of nutrient and energy fluxes in lake drainage basins. Interpretations of the data reveal several important considerations for models of lake systems and future studies of Lake Wingra. Phytoplankton associations, for example, appear to be adaptive, self-organizing systems. Such behavior suggests the possibility to apply optimization principles to phytoplankton models. The data suggest, furthermore, that optimization analysis can be based on size particle distributions of the phytoplankton, which, rather than species, appears to be the basis of phytoplankton categories. Zooplankton and benthos analyses, on the other hand, indicate that energy and nutrient fluxes may be adequately approximated by simulating only a few species. (Modified author abstract) |