Lago di Orta - Italy

Long-term changes of temperature, heat content and of mixing depth of the lake water. Seasonal monitoring of hydrochemistry and phytoplankton. Analyses of sediment cores: algal and bacterial pigments, fossil remains of thecamoebians, diatoms, and cladocerans, pollen, metals (particularly mercury and copper). Analysis of perifiton during the lake evolution. Other research topics: Laboratory testing on adaptation and clonal selection of zooplanktonic organisms in different stages of lake pollution and recovery. Comparison of the response of organisms obtained from resting eggs preserved in sediment cores compared to that of present-day zooplanktonic organisms (resurrection ecology and biology). Estimation of changes in the size and composition, and of the genetic fingerprint, of the bank of resting stages during the lake evolution through analysis of lake sediment cores. Comparison of periphyton and phytoplankton communities in relation to trophic and chemical evolution. Functional analysis of phyto-and zooplankton communities 20 years after the liming. Monitoring of fish community according to the Water Framework Directive (2000/60 / EC) and restocking of pelagic fish species (Alosa agone and Coregonus lavaretus). Restoration of the ecological connections with Lake Maggiore. Ecotoxicological and sclerochronological researches on bivalves molluscs and monitoring of their population.