Chlorophyll absorbance data from lake and river samples incubated with different nutrient combinations in the English Lake District, Norfolk Broads and Greater Glasgow, 2017-2018

Surface dip water samples were collected at the deepest point, lake edge, or ~1 m from the river bank. Periphyton sample filters were obtained from nutrient diffusing periphytometers that were deployed in the streams for two weeks. After two weeks these filters were retrieved and frozen at -20°C on return from the field.

Phytoplankton bioassays were initially filtered through a 100 µm mesh, 3x35 ml of filtered water treatments were spiked with the different nutrient additions. Tubes were then incubated for 14 days at 20°C. Following the incubation period, the contents of the tubes were resuspended and filtered onto Whatman GF/C filters and frozen at -20°C.

Filters in all cases were defrosted and extracted in 7.36 ml hot methanol, with absorbance readings obtained from a Hitachi U2800 UV/Visible spectrophotometer using a 5cm cuvette.

Data were entered into a spreadsheet and manually checked for transcription errors. Data from all experiments were collated into a single file for data archiving purposes.

Related datasets

Nutrient concentration and stable isotope data from water samples across river-lake networks in the English Lake District and Norfolk Broads, 2017-2018

This dataset is included in the following collections

Long term and high frequency monitoring of lakes in the English Lake District