An expedition of researchers will be launched to explore the possibility of using guanotrophication as an environmentally friendly method of the restoration of the Arctic lakes that have been subjected to decades of industrial pollution. Under this methodology, organic fertilizer obtained from bird manure is added to the water. The project, previously approved by the Project Office for the Development of the Arctic’s (PODA) Discussion Club, is now under practical implementation.
During the preliminary studies, two highly qualified researchers (both are PhDs) - an ornithologist from the Institute of Ecology and Evolution Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) and a hydrobiologist from the Institute of Biophysics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SB RAS) - will visit various places in the area from the northern part of Lake Pyasino to the mouth of the Tarei River. Depending on the situation, the researchers will land near 3-10 lakes with large colonies of birds consisting of at least 50 birds and go to 3-10 control lakes without birds to take samples of microalgae (phytoplankton), water and suspended matter (seston) for chemical analysis. Then, laboratory processing of phytoplankton samples and other analyzes will be carried out. Based on the results of preliminary studies, a plan for further actions will be developed.
It should be mentioned that in November 2021, a meeting of the PODA Discussion Club was held and a wide range of experts and representatives of the environmental community discussed the problems of restoring disturbed freshwater ecosystems in the Arctic zone. Mikhail Gladyshev, Corresponding Fellow of the RAS, Head of the Experimental Hydroecology Laboratory of the Institute of Biophysics of the SB RAS and Head of the Aquatic and Terrestrial Ecosystems Department of the Siberian Federal University, proposed to study the possibility of using guanotrophication in the Taimyr lakes heavily polluted during several decades of operation of many industrial enterprises on the Taimyr peninsula. This method leads to an increase in the abundance of microalgae that form the basis of the food chain of valuable fish species.
An alternative way to artificially increase the productivity of water bodies that includes the introduction of mineral fertilizers into the water is dangerous because it can cause “blooming” of cyanobacteria or “green tides” of filamentous algae. With such phenomena, water bodies look unaesthetic and many species of fish also disappear in them.
“Artificial guanotrophication can be considered as an environmentally friendly technology for restoring the water quality in dystrophic water bodies (for example, Lake Pyasino) with a mandatory reduction in an external anthropogenic load. Guanotrophication can contribute to an increase in the number of valuable commercial fish species, which directly depends on the quantity and quality of the primary production of microalgae,” explains Gladyshev.
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