The limnology of selected Guatemalan Lakes

Abstract

During the summer of 1969, fourteen Guatemalan lakes were sampled, including eight in the lowland northern province of Peten and six in southern Guatemala. The majority of the Peten lakes exhibited thermal stratification and hypolimnetic oxygen depletion. In most cases, pollution tolerant bottom forms were found. Algal species and numbers in general corresponded to a subjective estimate of the degree of nutrient input to the lakes. Lyngbya was usually the organism found when blooms were noted. The lakes in the Peten are predominately calcium bicarbonate and calcium sulfate lakes, but magnesium is also high in several of them. The southern lakes were chemically more variable, with sodium being more important than in the northern lakes. Most of the southern lakes also exhibited thermal stratification and hypolimnetic oxygen depletion, with the flora and fauna dependent upon oxygen and nutrient conditions. The authors conclude that different criteria than those used to assess the trophic status of temperate lakes are needed to classify tropical lakes.