Physical,Chemical and Microbiological Water Quality of the Manyas Lake,Turkey

Manyas, also known as the Bird Paradise Lake, is situated near the south-eastern coasts of the Marmara Sea in Turkey. This shallow lake, is a unique natural reserve providing habitat for migratory birds with its rich fauna and plankton species. The objective of this work is to study the ecological and water quality changes resulting from increasing anthropogenic pollution and human intervention on the natural variations of the water level. For this purpose, physical, chemical and microbiological aspects of the aquatic ecosystem in the lake of Manyas are being measured semimonthly since more than a year. After the completion of field measurements associations between different parameters will be searched by means of a water quality model. Results obtained will be used in the sustainable restoration of the lake. In this paper, firstly the nutrient and trophic dynamics of the planktonic ecosystem are associated with the bio-geochemical water cycle in the lake. Secondly, space and time distributions of all physical, chemical and microbiological data are presented and interactions between the nutrient availability and some microscopic communities are discussed.