Three reservoirs of similar size, watershed land use, and qualitative characteristics in northwest Arkansas, USA were selected to compare the effects of chemical fertilization and pulsed artificial-upwelling on whole-lake productivity, specifically primary production and phytoplankton biomass. Numerous water quality parameters were quantified over a two year period (2011-13) with the goal of understanding how each management technique would stimulate productivity. This experiment was the first step towards a larger goal to ultimately enhance sport fish production. The first year of monitoring occurred in 2011 and served as a control year for the three lakes. Treatments were initiated in two of the lakes (Lakes Rayburn and Norwood) in the second year, as one lake (Lake Brittany) remained a control. Due to difficulty in scaling and manipulation cost, small-scale microcosms experiments were used in 2012 directly prior to each whole-lake experiment. Microcosm experiments were used to derive appropriate whole-lake fertilization rates and make predictions for whole-lake responses to nutrient additions. Both microcosm and whole-lake phytoplankton responses varied seasonally with water temperature and initial dissolved nutrient concentrations. Few interannual effects from whole-lake manipulation were observed in the treatment lakes due to the `pulse' nature of nutrient additions. However, the short-term data revealed increased concentrations of total phosphorus (TP), total dissolved P (TDP), chlorophyll a (chl a), and <80 >µm chl a in Lake Rayburn and, in Lake Norwood, total dissolved nitrogen (TDN), TP, TDP, chl a, and < 80 µm chl a concentrations were elevated. Few whole-ecosystem aquatic studies have been conducted in the manner of this experiment. Preliminary results from these data suggest that periodically pulsed nutrient additions can result in short-term increases in biological productivity without affecting interannual water quality patterns.
","abstract_html":"<p>Three reservoirs of similar size, watershed land use, and qualitative characteristics in northwest Arkansas, USA were selected to compare the effects of chemical fertilization and pulsed artificial-upwelling on whole-lake productivity, specifically primary production and phytoplankton biomass. Numerous water quality parameters were quantified over a two year period (2011-13) with the goal of understanding how each management technique would stimulate productivity. This experiment was the first step towards a larger goal to ultimately enhance sport fish production. The first year of monitoring occurred in 2011 and served as a control year for the three lakes. Treatments were initiated in two of the lakes (Lakes Rayburn and Norwood) in the second year, as one lake (Lake Brittany) remained a control. Due to difficulty in scaling and manipulation cost, small-scale microcosms experiments were used in 2012 directly prior to each whole-lake experiment. Microcosm experiments were used to derive appropriate whole-lake fertilization rates and make predictions for whole-lake responses to nutrient additions. Both microcosm and whole-lake phytoplankton responses varied seasonally with water temperature and initial dissolved nutrient concentrations. Few interannual effects from whole-lake manipulation were observed in the treatment lakes due to the `pulse' nature of nutrient additions. However, the short-term data revealed increased concentrations of total phosphorus (TP), total dissolved P (TDP), chlorophyll a (chl a), and <80 >µm chl a in Lake Rayburn and, in Lake Norwood, total dissolved nitrogen (TDN), TP, TDP, chl a, and < 80 µm chl a concentrations were elevated. Few whole-ecosystem aquatic studies have been conducted in the manner of this experiment. Preliminary results from these data suggest that periodically pulsed nutrient additions can result in short-term increases in biological productivity without affecting interannual water quality patterns.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Thompson, Ben Alan"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science in Crop, Soil & Environmental Sciences (MS)","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Evans-White, Michelle A.","Brye, Kristofor R."],"advisors":["Scott, J. Thad"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2013,"date_issued":"2013-12-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2013-12-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T00:59:40Z","subjects":["Biological sciences","Fisheries","Mesotrophy","Multi-use","Nutrients","Phytoplankton","Environmental Sciences","Fresh Water Studies","Water Resource Management"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/989","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Evans-White, Michelle A.","Brye, Kristofor R."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Scott, J. 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Numerous water quality parameters were quantified over a two year period (2011-13) with the goal of understanding how each management technique would stimulate productivity. This experiment was the first step towards a larger goal to ultimately enhance sport fish production. The first year of monitoring occurred in 2011 and served as a control year for the three lakes. Treatments were initiated in two of the lakes (Lakes Rayburn and Norwood) in the second year, as one lake (Lake Brittany) remained a control. Due to difficulty in scaling and manipulation cost, small-scale microcosms experiments were used in 2012 directly prior to each whole-lake experiment. Microcosm experiments were used to derive appropriate whole-lake fertilization rates and make predictions for whole-lake responses to nutrient additions. Both microcosm and whole-lake phytoplankton responses varied seasonally with water temperature and initial dissolved nutrient concentrations. Few interannual effects from whole-lake manipulation were observed in the treatment lakes due to the `pulse' nature of nutrient additions. However, the short-term data revealed increased concentrations of total phosphorus (TP), total dissolved P (TDP), chlorophyll a (chl a), and <80 >µm chl a in Lake Rayburn and, in Lake Norwood, total dissolved nitrogen (TDN), TP, TDP, chl a, and < 80 µm chl a concentrations were elevated. Few whole-ecosystem aquatic studies have been conducted in the manner of this experiment. Preliminary results from these data suggest that periodically pulsed nutrient additions can result in short-term increases in biological productivity without affecting interannual water quality patterns.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Reservoir Management Techniques to Enhance Biological Productivity and Protect Water Quality"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Evans-White, Michelle A.","Brye, Kristofor R."],"dc:contributor.advisor":["Scott, J. Thad"],"dc:creator":["Thompson, Ben Alan"],"dc:date":["2013"],"dc:date.available":["2017-09-29T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Three reservoirs of similar size, watershed land use, and qualitative characteristics in northwest Arkansas, USA were selected to compare the effects of chemical fertilization and pulsed artificial-upwelling on whole-lake productivity, specifically primary production and phytoplankton biomass. Numerous water quality parameters were quantified over a two year period (2011-13) with the goal of understanding how each management technique would stimulate productivity. This experiment was the first step towards a larger goal to ultimately enhance sport fish production. The first year of monitoring occurred in 2011 and served as a control year for the three lakes. Treatments were initiated in two of the lakes (Lakes Rayburn and Norwood) in the second year, as one lake (Lake Brittany) remained a control. Due to difficulty in scaling and manipulation cost, small-scale microcosms experiments were used in 2012 directly prior to each whole-lake experiment. Microcosm experiments were used to derive appropriate whole-lake fertilization rates and make predictions for whole-lake responses to nutrient additions. Both microcosm and whole-lake phytoplankton responses varied seasonally with water temperature and initial dissolved nutrient concentrations. Few interannual effects from whole-lake manipulation were observed in the treatment lakes due to the `pulse' nature of nutrient additions. However, the short-term data revealed increased concentrations of total phosphorus (TP), total dissolved P (TDP), chlorophyll a (chl a), and <80 >µm chl a in Lake Rayburn and, in Lake Norwood, total dissolved nitrogen (TDN), TP, TDP, chl a, and < 80 µm chl a concentrations were elevated. Few whole-ecosystem aquatic studies have been conducted in the manner of this experiment. Preliminary results from these data suggest that periodically pulsed nutrient additions can result in short-term increases in biological productivity without affecting interannual water quality patterns.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/989"],"dc:subject":["Biological sciences","Fisheries","Mesotrophy","Multi-use","Nutrients","Phytoplankton","Environmental Sciences","Fresh Water Studies","Water Resource Management"],"dc:title":["Reservoir Management Techniques to Enhance Biological Productivity and Protect Water Quality"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science in Crop, Soil & Environmental Sciences (MS)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T00:59:40Z"}