Effect of biomanipulation on the structuring of the planktonic food web and water treatability by coagulation

The impact of planktivorous fish on the plankton community structure and character of aquatic organic matter was studied by a meso-scale enclosure experiment in a stratified reservoir. Aims of the study were (i) to examine the response of the communities with and without herbivorous zooplankton to an increased input of phosphorus and (ii) to determine the composition and coagulation properties of the organic matter produced by these communities. The concentration and composition of organic matter were affected both in the enclosure with planktivorous fish (F), where high algal biomass developed, and in the enclosure without fish (Z), where algae were maintained at a low concentration by zooplankton grazing. Although differences between the enclosures in concentrations of total dissolved organic matter and its hydrophobic, hydrophilic and neutral/basic fractions were relatively small, coagulation properties of the organics differed substantially. Particulate and dissolved organic matter produced in enclosure F had a positive effect on the efficiency of alum coagulation in contrast to the less readily separable organics produced in enclosure Z. The results indicate that pelagic food web manipulations to maintainin low phytoplankton biomass by zooplankton grazing may not always have positive effects on the treatability of water by coagulation.