Diatom community response to extreme water-level fluctuations in two Alpine lakes: a core case study

Water-level fluctuations (WLF) often represent one of the greatest impacts on the development of lake ecosystems. In the year 1931, the Trentino Hydroelectric Company (SIT) requested the hydroelectric use of water bodies in the Upper and Middle Sarca basin. The largest and deepest lakes were dammed to increase lake volume and exploited since mid 1950s. This research uses the sediment record of two small lakes in close proximity to each other (Garzonè and Serodoli) in northern Italy, used for hydroelectric power generation to determine the dependence of diatom-assemblage dynamics on WLF that have taken place over the last 60 years. Historical WLF are clearly reflected in the lithological composition and grain-size variations of the sediment cores. During the regression and transgression phases, the boundaries between the erosion, transport and accumulation zones fluctuated, causing redistribution of previously accumulated sediments, and their return into the lake’s cycling of biogeochemical matter. The water-level changes not only caused distinct taxonomic shifts in the diatom communities, which were dominated by different species in the core sections of each lake, but also significant shifts in the composition of the diatoms’ ecological, morphofunctional and life-form groups. Diatoms with a low- and high-profile attachment type were the dominant morphological forms in the upper core levels, where the most extreme fluctuations in water level had occurred. Increased turbulent mixing caused by WLF favours the presence of large, heavily silicified centric diatoms, while more stable levels would select for smaller centric diatoms through thermal stratification.