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A new tool to assess lake water quality

Our first manuscript that uses our national surface dataset has been published. You can see the manuscript here or email [email protected] for a copy.

The Lakes380 team has successfully developed a DNA-based method that uses bacteria to assess the current water quality of a lake.

Lakes around the world are being transformed by human actions. Traditional monitoring methods require frequent sampling over multiple years. These tools urgently needed modernisation, and this DNA-based method is our team’s solution.

The team developed the tool using data from lakes which are regularly monitored and showed there was a very good relationship between the two methods (see the graph below).

This method has now been used to predict the water quality of 255 lakes sampled as part of the Lakes380 programme. Of these 159 had never previously been monitored (see map below). Most of the lakes (59 out of 67) with good water quality were in the South Island. In contrast, 100 of the 123 lakes with poor or very poor water quality were in the North Island. Of these lakes, 65% were in catchments dominated by high intensity agriculture.

This new, robust DNA-based tool provides a rapid and cost-effective method that will allow a greater number of lakes to be monitored and more effectively managed in Aotearoa and globally.

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Publications

New manuscript on Rototoa (Auckland)

New manuscript on Lake Rototoa in Auckland has bee New manuscript on Lake Rototoa in Auckland has been published!!

A new manuscript titled - Resolving 500 years of anthropogenic impacts in a mesotrophic lake: Nutrients outweigh other drivers of lake change - led by Dr Rose Gregersen (Victoria University of Wellington) has been published in the prestigious journal Environmental Science & Technology.

The research explores the history of Rototoa, a lake in the Auckland region of Aotearoa-New Zealand. The researches combined sediment core analysis with historical data, and ecological experiments to determine what was causing the decline in lake health in recent decades. 

The researchers show that the health of the lake remained stable despite catchment deforestation and erosion, and the introduction of several non-native fish species. The most significant and sustained changes in lake health coincided with nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers in the catchment.

Congratulations Rose on your excellent research!

Visit www.lakes380.com for a link to the full manuscript.

#Lakes380 #Cawthron #GNS #ScienceLife #NZscience #research #researchLife #VictoriaUniversityofWellington #Aucklandlakes #rototoa #paleolimnology #sedimentcores
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Lake Kaituna / Lake B

North of Hamilton

Waikato

Lake Nganoke

South Wairarapa

Wellington

Skeleton Lake

Garvie Mountains

Southland

Tennants Lake

Chatham Islands

Canterbury

Lake Maratoto

South of Hamilton

Waikato

Blue Lake

Garvie Mountains

Southland

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About

  • The Project
  • The Science
    • Field Sampling
    • Laboratory Analysis
    • Student Projects
  • Science Aims
  • Rohe Studies
    • Rangitīkei Iwi Rohe Study
    • Wairarapa Moana iwi rohe study
  • Virtual Experience
  • Social Science
  • Iwi Relationships
  • The Team
    • Advisory Groups
    • Lakes380 Co-lead Institutes​
    • National Collaborators
    • International Collaborators
  • Partners

Resources

  • Contact & Links
  • Blog, News & Publications
  • Video Gallery
  • Results
  • Glossary