Abstract
Changes in Hickling Broad, since its creation in the 14th or 15th centuries by the flooding of peat diggings, have been deduced from dating and analysis of a sediment core, historical information and current limnological studies. Until the 1930's there was little major change. Increased agricultural land fertilization led to markedly increased organic sedimentation from the 1930's onwards, due to increased growth of submerged macrophytes. Inorganic sedimentation increased concurrently as more powerful pumps were installed to help drain the adjacent fens and marshes.
There was no evidence of increased plankton populations during this phase, but epiphytic diatom populations increased. In the mid 1960's the current period of hypereutrophication began. Epiphytic diatom numbers increased markedly and in the early 1970's the previous luxuriant macrophytes became sparse and the water became turbid with phytoplankton. These changes are attributable mainly to increases in the size of a roost of migratory black headed gulls (Larus ridibundus L.) on the lake in autumn and winter.
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Moss, B. The ecological history of a mediaeval man-made lake. Hickling Broad, Norfolk, United Kingdom. Hydrobiologia 60, 23–32 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00018684
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00018684