The aim is to monitor the Lake Myvatn and the river Laxá ecosystem for (1) detecting trends, (2) detecting background variability in the system, (3) assess the efficiency of management measures, (4) observe perturbations in order to generate hypotheses about causal relationships.
1) Waterbird census (a) breeding populations (b) production 2) Fish populations (CPUE, age distribution, condition) 3) Chironomid and simuliid Diptera population indices from traps 4) Benthic and planktonic Crustacea 5) Macrophytes (from aerial photographs) 6) Water temperature 7) Water levels and runoff (carried out by the National Energy Authority, Iceland) 8) Seston in the outlet 9) Chemistry of inflowing groundwater
All the Lake Myvatn basin and the river Laxá. Three other areas for comparison (all in North Iceland): 1) Svartárvatn - Svartá 2) Lake Víkingavatn 3) Svarfaðardalur
Chironomid and simuliid Diptera. Preserved in alcohol. Benthic and planktonic Crustacea. Preserved in alcohol.
National Energy Authority (Orkustofnun) Iceland Science Institute, University of Iceland Institute of Biology, University of Iceland Institute of Freshwater Fisheries Iceland Icelandic Meteorological Institute
No
Yes. Records of char and trout fisheries and waterfowl egg harvesting are used to extend the data series to around 1900.
1) Waterbird census (a) breeding populations (b) production 2) Fish populations (CPUE, age distribution, condition) 3) Chironomid and simuliid Diptera population indices from traps 4) Benthic and planktonic Crustacea 5) Macrophytes (from aerial photographs) 6) Water temperature 7) Water levels and runoff (carried out by the National Energy Authority, Iceland) 8) Seston in the outlet 9) Chemistry of inflowing groundwater