Trophic Classification for Lakes☆

Fu-Liu Xu and Yang Jiao, Peking University, Beijing, China

r 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A Review of Ecological Indicators for Trophic Classification for Lakes

The classical system of distinguishing lake trophic states can be traced to August Thienemann. He classified lakes according to their trophic
conditions into oligotrophic (low trophy), eutrophic (high trophy), and dystrophic (lakes of boggy character, with highly colored water
due to the presence of organic matter from decaying vegetation), on the base of the composition of lake bottom sediments and the
associated benthic fauna. Since the 1960s and the 1970s, a number of attempts have been made to quantitatively evaluate the trophic state
of lakes. Ecological indicators so far used for trophic classifications of lakes may be divided into physical, chemical, biological, and system-
level aspects. They have been used solely as single-variable trophic indices or synchronously as multiparametric approaches. The single-
variable trophic indices can be divided into abiotic and biotic aspects. Among the abiotic parameters including physical and chemical
indicators, plant nutrients (phosphate, nitrate), oxygen demanded (biochemical (BOD), chemical (COD)), and transparency were usually
used to assess lake trophic levels. Also, biotic parameters were often employed to assess lake trophic conditions, given the sensitivity of
aquatic organisms, especially algae and macroinvertebrates, to eutrophication processes. Phytoplankton, both in running waters and lakes,
turned out to be a reliable environmental tool when estimating different levels of trophy. With the exception of chlorophyll a (Chl-a)
concentrations, phytoplankton cell number, species number, and biomass, some form of index, such as Hurlbert’s, Margalef’s, Menhi-
nick’s, Shannon’s, Simpson’s, and McNaughton’s, has always been used in assessing eutrophication conditions in aquatic environments.
Like phytoplankton, zooplankton indices have also been adopted for lake trophic classifications. For instance, zooplankton community
size, structure, abundance, and biomass of micro- and macrozooplankton, the shift of Rotifer communities, as well as zooplankton
assemblages were applied to classify the lake trophic status.
However, these relatively simple single-variable trophic state criteria represent subjective judgments, and may be limited
spatially. Further, the use of descriptive classifications for lake trophic states such as oligotrophic, mesotrophic, eutrophic, and so
on, could create difficulties when attempting to describe continuous changes in a lake's trophic state or in studying quantitatively
the eutrophication mechanism. The multidimensional nature of the eutrophication phenomenon means that no single variable is
representative of the eutrophication status of a given water body. More robust trophic state criteria or indices using multivariate
approaches have been proposed by a number of investigators. The contributions of Carlson, Walker, and Porcella offer a 0–100
scale providing continuous numerical classes of lake trophic states and a rigorous foundation for quantitative studies of the
mechanisms behind eutrophication. This effectively eliminates the subjective labeling associated with the use of oligotrophic,
mesotrophic, and eutrophic states as indicators. The trophic state index (TSI) based on several biological, chemical, and physical
indicators, especially the Carlson-type TSI, offers the most suitable and acceptable method for trophic classifications of lakes.
Mathematical methods play a very important role in lake trophic classifications in terms of parameters chosen, weighting factor
calculation, and sample classification. Exploratory statistical regression analysis has been used to investigate relationships between
the related parameters and eutrophication levels. Further, cluster analysis, fuzzy analysis, principal component analysis, and
artificial neural networks have proven to be powerful tools in lake eutrophication assessment. Another important attempt at a
multiparametric classification of trophic conditions was undertaken by Zurlini by combining the exact probabilities from Orga-
nization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) of the log normal frequency distributions of chlorophyll, nitrogen,
and phosphorus concentrations as well as Secchi depths. Additionally, several other researchers applied remote sensing tech-
nologies or geographic information system (GIS) technology to the trophic classification for lakes.

A Case Study: Trophic Classification for Lake Chaohu in China

Design and Calculation of Trophic Classification

A GIS-based method of lake eutrophication assessment was undertaken to study the spatial distribution of eutrophication
conditions in lake environments. A trophic state index (TSI) consisting of six physical, chemical, and biological indicators
including total phosphorus (TP), total nitrogen (TN), chemical oxygen demand (COD), Secchi disk depth (SD), chlorophyll-a
concentration (Chl-a), and phytoplankton biomass (CA) was constructed to describe the eutrophication state of the lake envir-
onment. A 0–100 eutrophication scale was also developed to indicate seven different trophic levels within the lake environment:
0–30 representing oligotrophic, 30–40 lower-mesotrophic, 40–50 mesotrophic, 50–60 upper-mesotrophic, 60–70 eutrophic,
70–80 hypereutrophic, and 80–100 the extremely hypereutrophic. A representation of the spatial distribution of TSITP, TSITN,
TSICOD, TSISD, TSIChl-a and TSICA was developed using the Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW) interpolation method. By

☆
Change History: March 2018. Fu-Liu Xu updated Abstract, Keywords, Figure 1, Figure 3, and Figure 4.
This is an update of F.–L. Xu, Trophic Classification for Lakes, In Encyclopedia of Ecology, edited by Sven Erik Jørgensen and Brian D. Fath, Academic Press,
Oxford, 2008, pp. 3594–3601.

Encyclopedia of Ecology, 2nd edition, Volume 1 doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-409548-9.11176-5 487

488 Conservation Ecology: Trophic Classification for Lakes

Fig. 1 Geographical location (A) and distribution of sampling points (B) of Lake Chao.

categorizing the interpolated values, a clear illustration of the different trophic levels was developed on six thematic maps. A
Geographical Information System (GIS) overlay technique was applied to synthesize the information from the six thematic maps
into a final map illustrating the spatial distribution of eutrophication conditions within the study area.

Study Area and Data Collection

Lake Chao is located in southeastern China (Fig. 1A). It has a mean surface area of 760 km2, a mean depth of 3.06 m, and a mean
retention time of 136 days. Lake Chao is one of the five largest fresh-water lakes in China, and the most eutrophic. Prior to the
1950s, the lake was well known for its scenic beauty and richness of aquatic life. Since that time, however, the lake has suffered
from serious eutrophication. Increasing pressures from population growth and economic development in the drainage area are
primarily responsible for the lake's current eutrophic state. The present conditions have had negative ecological, health, social, and
economic effects on the lake and its utilization. Lake Chao was selected some time ago for inclusion in a nation-wide study of lake
eutrophication conditions and processes. Accordingly, comprehensive research on Lake Chao has been carried out for more than
20 years (see Tu et al., 1990; Wang et al., 1995; Xu, 1994, 1996, 1997; Xu et al., 1999a,b,c).
Measurement and sampling of the lake's water for analytical purposes were performed monthly from April 1987 to March
1988. The water samples were collected using a van Dorhn sampler from 34 stations (Fig. 1B) at a depth of 0.5 m. The parameters
chosen for measurement included both physic-chemical parameters (SD, pH, TN, TP, Si, COD, BOD, DO, etc.) and biological
parameters (chlorophyll-a concentration (Chl-a), biomass concentration and the dry weight of both phytoplankton and zoo-
plankton, and the number of phytoplankton cells). Thermal profiles were taken every 3 h at various points in the lake by means of
a thermograph. A weather station located on the site provided 3-hourly measurements of atmospheric pressure, wind speed and
direction, air temperature, humidity and solar radiation.
The flow chart of the GIS-based method for the lake eutrophication assessment is shown in Fig. 2.

TSI Calculation and Trophic Classification

Indicators selection
The TSIs was based on total phosphorus (TP, in mg/l of P), total nitrogen (TN, in mg/l of N), chemical oxygen demand (COD, in
mg/l), Secchi disk depth (SD, in m), chlorophyll-a concentration (Chl-a, in mg/m3), and phytoplankton biomass (CA, as C in
mg/m3) (see Table 1). The assessment standards for each indicator were based on those constructed for the Evaluation Standards
 Conservation Ecology: Trophic Classification for Lakes 489

Select assessment indicators RATING LAYERS WEIGHT

TSITP WTP
Set eutrophication scales

TSITN WTN

TSICOD WCOD

Calculate eutrophication levels

TSISD WSD

Generate thematic maps

TSIChl-A WChl-

TSICA WCA

TSI=
Overlay thematic maps TSITP*WTP+TSITN*WTN+

Fig. 2 The flow chart for the GIS-based method for lake eutrophication assessment.

Table 1 The scale of the trophic state index (TSI) and the evaluation standards for Lake Chaoa

TSI Eutrophication level TP (mg/L) TN (mg/L) COD (mg/L) SD (m) Chl-a (mg/m3) CA (mg/m3)

0 Oligotrophic 0.0004 0.010 0.06 48 0 /

10 0.0009 0.070 0.12 27 0.10 o50
20 0.0020 0.150 0.24 15 0.26 50
30 0.0046 0.300 0.48 8.0 0.66 100
40 Lower-mesotrophic 0.0100 0.600 0.96 4.4 1.60 150
50 Mesotrophic 0.0230 1.000 1.80 2.4 4.10 200
60 Upper-mesotrophic 0.0500 1.500 3.60 1.3 10.0 250
70 Eutrophic 0.1100 2.000 7.10 0.73 20.0 300
80 Hypereutrophic 0.2500 3.000 14.0 0.40 40.0 500
90 Extremely hypereutrophic 0.5500 4.600 27.0 0.22 100 800
100 1.2000 10.00 54.0 0.12 200 4800
a
Consulting the trophic state index and evaluation standards for lake eutrophication of OECD (1982) and Japan National Environmental Institute (Aizaki et al., 1981), and for Lake Tai
eutrophication in China (Jin et al., 1990).

for Lake Eutrophication designed for the OECD (1982) and the Japanese National Environmental Institute (Aizaki et al., 1981),
and those used in assessing the eutrophication of Lake Tai in China (Jin et al., 1990) (see Table 1).

Calculation of eutrophication levels and generation of thematic maps

The following expression was used to calculate the lake eutrophication levels for each of the indicators:




 
TSIi ¼ TSIk1 þ Ci  Si;k1 = Si;k  Si;k1  ðTSIk  TSIk1 Þ ð1Þ

where Ci is the measured concentration of the i-th indicator (i ¼ TP, TN, COD, SD, Chl-a and CA), TSIk and TSIk1 are the k-th and
(k  1)-th scales of the i-th indicator, Si, k and Si, k1 are the evaluation standards of k-th and (k  1)-th scales of the i-th indicator
(see Table 1).
The inverse distance weighted (IDW) interpolation method (Lam, 1983) with a spatial resolution of 500  500 m and
ArcView Version 3.1 (ArcView 3.1, ESRI, Inc.) were used to generate the six thematic maps indicating the spatial distribution of
eutrophication levels based on each indicator. The IDW interpolation method is based on the principle of assigning higher weights
490 Conservation Ecology: Trophic Classification for Lakes

Fig. 3 Spatial distribution of the lake trophic state index based on each indicator: (A) TSITP; (B)TSITN; (C)TSICOD; (D)TSISD; (E)TSIChl-a; (F) TSICA.

to data points closest to an unvisited point relative to those which are further away (Weber and Englund, 1992, 1994). In other
words, the assigned weight is a function of inverse distance as represented in the following formula (Lam, 1983):

X
N X
N
f ðx; yÞ ¼ wðdi Þzi C wðdi Þ ð2Þ
i¼1 i¼1

where f(x,y) is the interpolated value at point (x,y); w(di) is the weighting function; zi is the data value at point i; and di is the
distance from point (x,y).
The interpolated values of any point within the dataset are bounded by min(zi) o f(x,y) o max(zi), as long as w(di) 4 0 (Lam,
1983). The IDW interpolation method has been widely used on many types of data because of its simplicity in principle, speed in
calculation, easiness in programming, and credibility in interpolating surfaces (Lam, 1983).

The overlay of the thematic maps

The overlay technique, widely used in GIS applications (GIS by, 1994), was applied to synthesize the six thematic maps and
develop the final eutrophication map. The following steps describe the synthesizing procedure used to analyze the six thematic
maps:
(1) Development of an trophic state index (TSI) scale from 0 to 100 to label the different trophic levels (see Table 1).
(2) Application of this ordinal scale to all the pixels/cells on each thematic map; each pixel was assigned a value from 0 to 100
based on a comparison between its initial value and the eutrophication scales in Table 1.
(3) Analysis of the six thematic maps on a cell-by-cell basis. As a result, a final map illustrating the spatial distribution of
eutrophication levels was produced. The following expression was used in the overlay operation to produce the TSI values:

TSI ¼ ðTSITP ∗ W TP þ TSITN ∗ W TN þ TSICOD ∗ WCOD þ TSISD ∗ W SD þ TSIChlA ∗ WChlA þ TSICA ∗ WCA Þ ð3Þ
 Conservation Ecology: Trophic Classification for Lakes 491

Fig. 4 Final map for the spatial distribution of the lake eutrophication based on overlay technique.

where TSITP, TSITN, TSICOD, TSISD, TSIChl-a and TSICA are the eutrophication levels for TP, TN, COD, SD, Chl-A and CA on the six
thematic layers; WTP,WTN,WCOD,WSD, WChl-a and WCA are the weighting factors for each indicator (assumed as 1/6 for each
indicator in the operation).

Trophic classification for Lake Chaohu

The thematic maps of TSITP, TSITN, TSICOD, TSISD, TSICHL-A and TSICA developed using the IDW interpolation method and the
eutrophication scales are illustrated in Fig. 3A–F, respectively. The final TSI map developed as a result of the overlay technique is
given in Fig. 4.
Fig. 3A shows the spatial distribution of TSITP. From it, one can see that the western part of Lake Chao is characterized mainly as
severely eutrophic (TSITP 70–80), while the eutrophic field (TSITP 60–70) is distributed in the eastern part of the lake. The
eutrophication levels near the river mouths are representative of eutrophic to extremely hypereutrophic (TSITP 60–90) conditions,
while the upper-mesotrophic and eutrophic (TSITP 50–70) conditions can be observed in the open water areas.
Fig. 3B illustrates the spatial distribution of TSITN. The hypereutrophic field (TSITN 70–80) is mainly distributed in the
northwestern and northeastern parts, near the river mouths. Most of the study area can be characterized as eutrophic (TSITN
60–70) centered in the southwestern and southeastern parts and upper-mesotrophic (TSITN 50–60) in the central part.
Fig. 3C shows the TSICOD spatial distribution. Here, the upper-mesotrophic field (TSICOD 50–60) is extended from the central
to the southeastern part of the lake, with most of the remainder of the study area being characterized as eutrophic (TSICOD 60–70).
Fig. 3D reveals the spatial distribution of TSISD. The extremely hypereutrophic field (TSISD 80–100) covers the entire lake. The
eutrophication level near the river mouths in the western part of the lake is higher (TSISD 90–100) than that found elsewhere in the
study area (TSISD 80–90).
Fig. 3E demonstrates the spatial distribution of TSICHL-A. The central and southwestern parts of the lake are characterized by
mesotrophic and lower-mesotrophic fields (TSICHL-A 30–50), with a strong mesotrophic field (TSICHL-A 40–50) dominance. The
northwestern and eastern parts of the study area are characterized as primarily upper-mesotrophic (TSICHL-A 50–60), with the
eutrophic field (TSICHL-A 60–70) extending mainly near the river mouths in the same area. The severely eutrophic (TSICHL-A 70–80)
and the extremely hypereutrophic fields (TSICHL-A 80–90) are limited to small areas in the central and eastern parts of the lake.
Fig. 3F indicates the spatial distribution of TSICA. The mesotrophic field (TSICA 40–50) extends from the southwestern to central
parts of the lake, while the lower-mesotrophic field (TSICA 30–40) is limited to small areas in the same region. The upper-
mesotrophic (TSICA 50–60) covers most of the northwestern and the eastern parts of the study area. The eutrophic range (TSICA
60–70) is found principally in the eastern part of the lake and in limited number of small areas in the northwestern part of the
lake. The hypereutrophic field (TSICA 70–80) is only found near the mouth of the Zhegaohe River in the eastern part of the lake.
Finally, the overall TSI spatial distribution is illustrated in Fig. 4. Eutrophic conditions (TSI 60–70) cover most of the study
area, while the hypereutrophic conditions (TSI 70–80) are distributed mainly near the river mouths in the northwestern and
northeastern parts of the lake. A very limited area in the central part of the study area is characterized as upper-mesotrophic (TSI
50–60).

Discussions
The spatial distribution of Lake Chao's eutrophication levels derived from this study is closely correlated with the actual conditions
of the lake. The northwestern and northeastern parts of the lake, especially the river mouths near the Nanfeihe and Zhegaohe
Rivers, receive much more wastewater because of their nearness to Hefei City, the capital of Anhui Province, and Chaohu City, the
second largest city in the lake's watershed (see Fig.1A). The nutrient contents which are primarily responsible for eutrophication
(Rast and Holland, 1988; Ryding and Rast, 1989; Cooke et al., 1993) both in the lake's water and sediments, were far higher in
492 Conservation Ecology: Trophic Classification for Lakes

(A)
GIS TSI Calculation
File Exchange
User Interface User Interface

(B)
File Exchange
GIS and TSI Calculation
Common Data Management

Common User Interface

(C)

TSI
GIS Data
Calculation

User Interface of Decision-Making Support System for Lake Eutrophication Assessment

Fig. 5 The different periods or levels of GIS-based method for lake eutrophication assessment: (A) the first periods or levels; (B) the second
periods or levels; (C) the third periods or levels.

these two regions than anywhere else in the lake (see Fig. 3A,B). The concentration of Chl-a and phytoplankton biomass, two of
the more obvious symptoms of eutrophication (Rast and Holland, 1988; Ryding and Rast, 1989; Cooke et al., 1993), both
followed similar trends in spatial distribution (see Fig. 3E–F).
Lake eutrophication, however, cannot be simply evaluated by a single physical, chemical, or biological parameter. It is a
multidimensional feature (Shannon and Brezonik, 1972; Carlson, 1977; Cruzado, 1987). These single indicators cover different
aspects of the lake eutrophication phenomenon. It is necessary, therefore, to apply several indicators simultaneously (including
physical, chemical, and biological) to derive a more complete lake eutrophication assessment. Only through such a multi-
dimensional approach can one capture all the features needed to yield a fully informative assessment of the eutrophic condition of
a lake. Unfortunately, the sensitivity of a single-parameter and/or its weighting factor may be different in different lakes depending
on the parameters used in the TSI (e.g., Therriault and Platt, 1978; Reckhow and Chapra, 1983; Powell et al., 1989; Boyle et al.,
1990; Whitton and Kelly, 1995; Karydis and Tsirtsis, 1996; Danilov and Ekelund, 1999). The choice of suitable indicators and their
weights is critically important in the eutrophication assessment of a specific lake. Hooper (1969) identified four important criteria
useful in the development of eutrophication indices: (1) it should discriminate between changes associated with nutrient level and
those associated with other categories of environmental change; (2) it should have considerable sensitivity to levels of enrichment;
(3) it should have properties which are widespread geographically and short-lived geologically; and (4), it should be suitable for
long-term surveillance and monitoring, that is, indices should both document past changes and serve as a predictive function.
Most of the current research has focused on the identification and selection of suitable indicators relative to assessing the
eutrophic condition of a lake. The spatial distribution of eutrophication levels, however, is equally important in developing a
complete picture of the trophic state of a lake. A GIS-based method to spatially assess lake eutrophication states was proposed in
this paper. GIS technology is mainly adequate for distributed data which are within the resolution of the GIS grid, for example,
land use, land cover (both can be deduced from sattelite inages), DEM, etc. The approach in this paper is not the same—the
authors used rather limited number of observation points and a special technique (IDW) to calculate the GIS mesh values of
variables. The methodology could have three different approaches depending on integration style and date exchange methodology
between the GIS approach and the TSI calculations (see Fig. 5). The first is shown in Fig. 5A. Here, both the GIS and the TSI
calculations belong to two separate systems, each having their own identifiable user interface. The GIS is used simply to display the
results of the TSI calculations and their integration is limited to file exchange activity. The second approach is illustrated in Fig. 5B.
Here, the GIS and the TSI calculations still belong to two separate systems. However, they possess a common user interface that is
used to activate the GIS and TSI calculations as a single system, in addition to managing common data and file exchanges. This
integrating style reduces errors associated with both data and file exchanges between separate systems. The third approach is
presented in Fig. 5C. The GIS and the TSI calculations are now completely integrated as a Decision-Making Support System for
Lake Eutrophication Assessment (DMSSLEA), having a uniform user interface and data sharing. In this approach, the TSI calcu-
lations are treated as an analysis function of the integrating system. The calculations are programmed using a specific GIS
 Conservation Ecology: Trophic Classification for Lakes 493

programming language, for example, Avenue in ArcView, SML in Arc/Info PC version, MapBasic in MapInfo, or Genius in
GanaMap. Here the GIS manages the spatial and attribute data, in addition to manipulating and displaying the results of TSI
calculations.
The first approach was applied in the case study presented in this paper. The TSI calculations were developed using MS Excel 97,
while the generation and synthesis of the six thematic maps was performed using the inverse distance weighted (IDW) inter-
polation method and overlay technique within the framework of a Geographic Information System (ArcView 3.1, ESRI, Inc.). The
results of the TSI calculations were stored in Dbase format. The map indicating the boundary and sampling points in the lake
served as the basis for visualizing the resulting spatial data (Fig. 1B).

Conclusions

A GIS-based method of lake eutrophication assessment was proposed with the purpose of studying the spatial distribution of
eutrophication conditions in the lake environment. The method included the integration of GIS methodology into lake eutro-
phication assessment using a trophic state index. The inverse distance weighted (IDW) interpolation method was used for
generating thematic maps indicating the spatial distribution of each of the Trophic State Indices. An overlay technique within the
GIS framework was applied to analyze the information from the thematic maps in order to develop a final map illustrating the
spatial distribution of eutrophication conditions in the lake. Results from the study indicate that the boundaries associated with
different trophic levels (upper-mesotrophic, eutrophic and hypereutrophic) could be clearly defined in a final eutrophication map.
This result comprises the principal advantage of the proposed methodology when compared with other attempts based on a multi-
parametric classification and assessment of lake trophic trends. The latter approach does not lead to a clear definition of the
boundaries associated with differing trophic levels. As such, the proposed methodology could be of special interest to policy
makers involved in lake management and planning, since policy makers need a more explicit view of trophic status and clear
information on water quality.

See also: Ecological Data Analysis and Modelling: Climate Change Models. Ecosystems: Freshwater Lakes

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