Lake Washington’s recent history; W.T. Edmondson
The objective of this homework is to get you thinking about the dynamics of eutrophication and Lake Washington by reading the work of W.T. Edmondson. Dr. Edmondson was a professor at the University of Washington, and his science inspired the management of Lake Washington.
Please read the following paper. The PDF is provided, W.T. 1994. Sixty years of Lake Washington: a curriculum vitae. Lake and Reserv. Manage. 10 (2): 75-84. II.
Please answer the following questions:
- List 3 anthropogenic alterations and their dates which have profoundly influenced the biology of Lake Washington (between 1900 and 1994), according to W.T. Edmondson.
- Daphnia have appeared and disappeared in the last century in Lake Washington. They are a center piece of the lake’s food web.
- a) Describe Daphnia’s role in the food chain (i.e. what eats them and what do they eat)?
- b) What factors did Edmonson propose that regulate Daphnia in Lake Washington?
- c) What data are not shown in figure 2 (Edmondson 1994, p.78) that may help further convince you of Edmondson’s explanation of Daphnia population changes?
- What characteristics of Lake Washington may have contributed to its rapid recovery from eutrophication?
- Locate 3 journal articles on Lake Washington eutrophication or ecology and summarize each one in a single paragraph – you may paraphrase the abstract – not direct copy (3 paragraphs in total)
