Abstract
A change for the worse in water quality in Lake Biwa has led to musty odor of tap water, freshwater red tide and other water blooms by sudden propagations of nuisance planktonic algae since 1970. Further, some endemic and commercially important species of fish and molluscs decreased drastically in the last 10–30 years. These events seemed to be closely related to drainage of many small lakes channeled to Lake Biwa as part of an agricultural policy after World War 11, and to senseless exploitation of the littoral zone in the 1970s and 1980s as a link in the Comprehensive Development Project of Lake Biwa. Simplification of its littoral zone has led to a deterioration in its ecosystem through physical destruction of spawning habitats and increase in eutrophication.
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Nakanishi, M., Sekino, T. Recent drastic changes in Lake Biwa bio-communities, with special attention to exploitation of the littoral zone. GeoJournal 40, 63–67 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00222532
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00222532