Susana Romo

• University of Valencia

The Albufera of Valencia, a Mediterranean coastal lagoon, has been in a turbid state since 1974, with only four episodes of temporary water transparency in spring. Despite its average depth of 1 m and oligohaline waters, excessive turbidity, fish grazing, and toxic compounds have inhibited submerged macrophyte growth. In spring 2018, a significant...

The Natural Park of Albufera (Valencia, Spain) is an important Mediterranean coastal wetland that suffers continuous environmental effects from human activities and water uses, mainly related to agriculture and urban/industrial sewage discharges. The aim of this research was to assess the water quality of the different aquatic environments of this...

The Natural Park of Albufera (Valencia, Spain) is one of the Spanish Mediterranean wetlands where rice is cultivated intensively. The hydrology of the Albufera Lake, located in the center, combines natural contributions with complex human management. The aim of our study was to develop a new methodology to accurately detect the volume of flood wate...

Hydrological regimes define the structure and functions of a wetland, playing a vital role in controlling its physical, chemical and biological characteristics. In the last decades, in many cases, the times of temporary flooding of the wetlands have been controlled by agricultural requirements instead of natural seasonal flood cycles, affecting eco...

The Albufera of Valencia is a coastal lagoon located in the western area of the Mediterranean Sea, in the Iberian Peninsula. It has an area of 23.1 km² and an average depth of only 1 m, with a maximum depth of 1.6 m. This lagoon is the remnants of an original and more extensive wetland of about 220 km² which is now mostly dedicated to rice cultivat...

The Natural Park of the Albufera (Valencia, Spain) is a Mediterranean wetland where rice cultivation dominates the agricultural activity. The purpose of this study was to offer broader information about the current state of the wetland assessing the contamination by pesticides in four aquatic habitats during the rice cultivation period in 2016. Liq...

RESUMEN Evolución de la conductividad en la Albufera de Valencia entre 1985 y 2018 La laguna costera de la Albufera de Valencia es una masa de agua oligohalina rodeada de un antiguo marjal, transformado en cultivo del arroz desde hace más de 200 años. La presión de las aportaciones superficiales mantiene la conductividad en valores estables en torn...

Populations of the fragilarioid diatom Synedropsis roundii are described from the phytoplankton of the Albufera of Valencia, a large and shallow eutrophic lagoon in the Spanish Mediterranean coast. The specimens collected are described and illustrated with light and scanning electron microscopy. This is the first documented record of this species s...

Unlike in deep stratified lakes, the assessment of eutrophication in shallow aquatic systems (i.e., wetlands,marshes, ponds) should be based on the interaction between water and sediment. The availability of P to primary producers is naturally higher in shallow systems, because the sediment plays an active part via adsorption, precipitation and rel...

Insight into how environmental change determines the production and distribution of cyanobacterial toxins is necessary for risk assessment. Management guidelines currently focus on hepatotoxins (microcystins). Increasing attention is given to other classes, such as neurotoxins (e.g., anatoxin-a) and cytotoxins (e.g., cylindrospermopsin) due to thei...

Insight into how environmental change determines the production and distribution ofcyanobacterial toxins is necessary for risk assessment. Management guidelines currently focus onhepatotoxins (microcystins). Increasing attention is given to other classes, such as neurotoxins (e.g.,anatoxin-a) and cytotoxins (e.g., cylindrospermopsin) due to their p...

The National Park of the Albufera is an important Iberian and Mediterranean coastal wetland (Valencia, Spain). The wetland (223 km2) is between the Turia and Júcar rivers, and mainly composed by paddy fields (Soria, 2006). It has also the largest Iberian coastal lagoon (23 km2 and 1.2 m mean depth, figure 1). Since the 19th century, the Albufera la...

Nutrients and carbon were studied in the temporary and permanent dune ponds of one of the few restored Mediterranean dune systems. The results indicate that small, low nutrient dune ponds can have a relevant role for carbon storage and processing, especially in the limestone areas. Despite the low percentage of organic matter in the sediment and wa...

La Albufera de Valencia es una laguna costera que actualmente se encuentra en un estado de hipertrofia como consecuencia de la eutrofización de las aguas por las cargas de nutrientes que recibe. Se ha propuesto en diversos estudios realizados desde 1995 la necesidad de la llegada de aguas de buena calidad que deben producir la renovación adecuada d...

Los humedales costeros valencianos están distribuidos a lo largo de la costa mediterránea, presentando gran variabilidad en su extensión, características y estados de conservación, consecuencia de los usos en su cuenca tanto pasados como actuales. A partir de 1986, se comenzaron a implantar figuras de protección como Parque Natural en muchos de ell...

La Devesa es el nombre local de la restinga arenosa que separa la Albufera de Valencia del Mar Mediterráneo. Tiene una longitud de unos 10 km y una anchura de unos 1000 m. El cordón dunar interior está inmovilizado por vegetación mediterránea, formada por pinar y matorral, mientras que el cordón dunar exterior está colonizado por matorral y vegetac...

Ecosystem size plays a key role in determining ecosystem functioning, affecting community stability and structure at both trophic and taxonomic levels. However, less is known about the influence of ecosystem size on environmental characteristics; for example, do larger ecosystems have higher nutrient availability? The nature of this relationship is...

Increased nutrient loading is regarded as one of the major causes of a shift from macrophyte to phytoplankton dominance in shallow lakes. This work investigates the responses of phytoplankton and epiphyton biomass, macrophytes and algal species assemblages along a trophic gradient in some shallow Mediterranean lakes. A unimodal response of epiphyto...

34. Romo, Susana and Carmen Perez-Martinez. 1997. “The Use of Immobilization in Alginate Beads for Long-Term Storage of Pseudoanabaena Galeata (Cyanobacteria) in the Laboratory.” Journal of Phycology: 1073–1076.

The Albufera de Valencia Natural Park is a wetland that includes, among other aquatic ecosystems, small wetlands named “malladas”. They are located in the coastal dunes that separate the Albufera lagoon from the Mediterranean Sea. The dune ponds are small (0.1 – 3.6 ha), shallow (less than 3 m in depth) and mainly temporary. We studied the hydrolog...

Los humedales costeros valencianos se distribuyen a lo largo de la costa mediterránea, presentando una variabilidad en su extensión y características actuales consecuencia de los usos tradicionales que tuvieron los terrenos adyacentes durante el pasado y los llevados a cabo actualmente. A partir de 1986, se comenzaron a implantar figuras de protecc...

El lago de la Albufera de Valencia y su marjal circundante es uno de los humedales más importantes de nuestra península, por su intrínseco valor ecológico, por ser zona de invernada de aves acuáticas y por la producción y cultivo estival de arroz, catalogado como zona RAMSAR e incluido en la red NATURA 2000. A pesar de ello, la laguna en sí misma e...

El lago de la Albufera de Valencia y su marjal circundante es uno de los humedales más importantes de nuestra península, por su intrínseco valor ecológico, por ser zona de invernada de aves acuáticas y por la producción y cultivo estival de arroz. A pesar de ello, la laguna en sí misma está muy alterada de su estado natural y presenta desde hace ca...

In this work, we have studied the inundation of seventeen dune ponds during the autumnal flooding of 2009 by using satellite remote sensing. METHODS ‐ Landsat 5 and 7 satellites provide some of the long‐term image series since remote sensing has been used for environmental monitoring. In this study, it was used the time series from spring 1984 to a...

Body size has been widely recognized as a key factor determining community structure in ecosystems. We analysed size diversity patterns of phytoplankton, zooplankton and fish assemblages in 13 data sets from freshwater and marine sites and found only weak relationships, indicating that predation and competition are not the only determinants of size...

Body size has been widely recognised as a key factor determining community structure in ecosystems. We analysed size diversity patterns of phytoplankton, zoo-plankton and fish assemblages in 13 data sets from freshwater and marine sites with the aim to assess whether there is a general trend in the effect of predation and resource competition on bo...

We have tracked changes in the zooplankton assemblages of three temporary duneslacks (locally known as “malladas”) in Albufera Natural Park, during four consecutive years (from 2007 until 2011). These ponds were restored in different periods; 1998 (Old), 2003 (Intermediate) and 2007 (Recent). They were monthly sampled during the flooded periods (us...

Diatom indices have been used and tested mainly for assessing the ecological status of rivers and deep lakes, but there are scarce studies that determine their effectiveness in shallow lakes and in coastal Mediterranean lakes. This study evaluates the validity of several common diatom indices (SPI, BDI, CEC and TDIL) for the determination of the ec...

Fish play a key role in the trophic dynamics of lakes. With climate warming, complex changes in fish assemblage structure may be expected owing to direct effects of temperature and indirect effects operating through eutrophication, water level changes, stratification and salinisation. We reviewed published and new long-term (10–100 years) fish data...

1. Climate change affects aquatic ecosystems differently depending on local conditions. In the Mediterranean region, predicted drier seasons could especially affect lake water residence time and in consequence cyanobacteria and cyanotoxin dynamics. 2. We carried out a 3-year study of a shallow, Mediterranean lake (Lake Albufera, Spain), to study th...

Cyanobacteria dominance and cyanotoxin production can become major threats to humans and aquatic life, especially in warm shallow lakes, which are often dominated by cyanobacteria. This study investigates the occurrence and distribution of microcystins (MCYST) in water, cell-bound and in the tissues of the commercial mugilid Liza sp. in the largest...

Dominance by cyanobacteria hampers human use of lakes and reservoirs worldwide. Previous studies indicate that excessive nutrient loading and warmer conditions promote dominance by cyanobacteria, but evidence from global scale field data has so far been scarce. Our analysis, based on a study of 143 lakes along a latitudinal transect ranging from su...

Cyanobacteria dominance and cyanotoxin production can become major threats to humans and aquatic life, especially in warm shallow lakes, which are often dominated by cyanobacteria. This study investigates the occurrence and distribution of microcystins (MCYST) in water, cell-bound and in the tissues of the commercial mugilid Liza sp. in the largest...

We experimentally analysed the importance of egg abortion in the reproduction strategies of Daphnia pulicaria (Forbes) in Lake Río Seco, a high mountain lake. Adult animals were exposed to different treatments under continuous or dynamic conditions (temperature and photoperiod) to test whether the simulation of field conditions, with changing tempe...

The European Water Framework Directive (WFD) requires that all aquatic ecosystems in their member states should reach 'good' ecological quality by 2015. To assess ecological quality, the WFD requires the definition of reference conditions using biological, physical and chemical indicators and the assignment of each water body to one of five quality...

Replicated, factorial mesocosm experiments were conducted across Europe to study the effects of nutrient enrichment and fish density on macrophytes and on periphyton chlorophyll a (chl-a) with regard to latitude. Periphyton chl-a densities and plant decline were significantly related to nutrient loading in all countries. Fish effects were significa...

ABSTRACTA new method for long-term storage of algal cultures in the laboratory was tested. The procedure is based on the cell immobilization technique. Cells of the filamentous cyanobacterium Pseudanabaena galeata Bocher were immobilized in sodium-alginate beads and stored for 14–18 months. The structure and functional features of the organism were...

El lago de la Albufera de Valencia, con una extensi´on de 2320 ha, es el lago somero y oligohalino m´as extenso de nuestro litoral. Se encuentra englobado dentro del Parque Natural de la Albufera de Valencia, en su mayor parte formado por arrozales. Esta importante zona h´umeda de Espa�na recibe diferentes impactos ambientales. El lago de la Albufe...

The lake of Albufera de Valencia, with 2320 ha, is the largest shallow, oligohaline lake of the Spanish coast. It is located within the Natural Park of the Albufera de Valencia, which is mainly formed by rice fields. This important Spanish wetland is subjected to different environmental impacts. The Albufera Lake has been eutrophic since the 1970s....

Studies on the effect of eutrophication on the ecology of shallow lakes, usually pay scant attention to changes within the epiphytic algal community, though the contribution of this to the ecosystem dynamics is transcendental. In order to test the influence of nutrient loadings and fish densities in the structure of algal epiphyton in a shallow lak...

In the ponds there arenatural populations of protected fish species with biogeographicalinterest, such as Aphaniusiberus, as well as a high diversity of aquatic plants, fauna and plankton communities. There are also endemic aquatic species, such as Palaemoneteszariqueyi.

The influence of nutrient levels, fish density and charophytes on the phytoplankton ecology of a shallow Mediterranean lake was studied by means of an in situ mesocosm experiment. Different levels of nutrients and fish were added over the course of an eight-week experiment, during which charophytes were removed towards the end. After submerged plan...

To test whether aquatic invertebrates are able to adjust their diel migratory cycle to different day length and presence of predators, we performed standardized enclosure experiments in shallow lakes at four different latitudes from southern Spain, with strong night–day cycles, to Finland where daylight is almost continuous during summer. We show h...

The present experimental research reports the responses of phytoplankton, epiphyton and charophytes in a shallow characean Mediterranean lake under different nutrient levels (nitrogen and phosphorus) and planktivorous fish densities in two in situ mesocosm experiments. How these factors affected biomass, dominance and replacement of these primary p...

The taxonomic study of 14 strains of Geitlerinema amphibium (Ag. ex Gom.) Anagnostidis and Geitlerinema unigranulatum (R.N. Singh) Komárek and Azevedo, coming from several localities was undertaken. Use was made of morphological data and molecular data were obtained by means of the DNA fingerprinting technique using highly iterated palindrome (HIP1...

Studies on shallow lakes from the north temperate zone show that they alternate between clear and turbid water states in response to control factors. However, the ecology of semi-arid to arid shallow Mediterranean lakes is less explored. Hydrological effects (e.g. water level fluctuations, water residence time) on major ions and nutrient dynamics a...

Se ha estudiado la comunidad de macroinvertebrados bentónicos del sedimento así como la de los asociados a los macrófitos en una serie de mesocosmos concebidos para un experimento múltiple simultáneo llevado a cabo en cinco localidades europeas: Finlandia, Suecia, Reino Unido (UK), Noroeste de España y Levante Español. El experimento fue diseñado p...

A pesar de la importancia socioeconómica de las actividades pesqueras que de forma ancestral se vienen realizando en el Lago de la Albufera de Valencia, documentadas al menos desde el siglo 13, existe un escaso conocimiento acerca de la evolución temporal, situación actual e importancia ecológica de su fauna piscícola. Los datos de que se dispone s...

En el presente estudio se aporta el inventario de los invertebrados acuáticos recolectados en el Ullal de Baldoví (Sueca, Valencia) durante el año 2007. Se trata de un manantial emblemático de aguas oligohalinas, situado en el interior del Parque Natural de l’Albufera de Valencia. Se contabilizaron 81 taxones distribuidos en 6 filos, 24 órdenes y 5...

The sedimentary and plant-associated macroinvertebrate communities have been examined in a series of mesocosm experiments carried out in five locations, in Finland, Sweden, UK, Northwest Spain and Mediterranean Spain (the International Mesocosm Experiment). The experiments were designed to investigate how shallow lake ecosystems respond to the addi...

Two mesocosm experiments were carried out to investigate the dynamic ef fects of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) and planktivorous fish additions on phytoplankton strategies and diversity. The phylogenetic and functional approaches were used to understand phytoplankton ecology in shallow Mediterranean lakes. The experimental approach is new for...

We analyzed data from 81 shallow European lakes, which were sampled with standardized methods, for combined effects of climatic, physical, and chemical features of food-web interactions, with a specific focus on zooplankton biomass and community structure. Multiple-regression analysis showed that total phosphorus (TP) generally was the most importa...

1. This synthesis examines 35 long-term (5–35 years, mean: 16 years) lake re-oligotrophication studies. It covers lakes ranging from shallow (mean depth <5 m and/or polymictic) to deep (mean depth up to 177 m), oligotrophic to hypertrophic (summer mean total phosphorus concentration from 7.5 to 3500 ug L-1 before loading reduction), subtropical to...

1. In view of the paucity of data on the response of warm shallow lakes to reductions in nutrient loading, this paper presents a long-term limnological data set to document changes in the food-web of a shallow Mediterranean lake (Lake Albufera, Valencia, Spain) that has experienced reductions in phosphorus (P) (77%) and nitrogen (N) (24%) loading f...

1. Results are analysed from 11 experiments in which effects of fish addition and nutrient loading on shallow lakes were studied in mesocosms. The experiments, five in 1998, six in 1999, were carried out in six lakes, distributed from Finland to southern Spain, according to a standard protocol. 2. Effects of the treatments on 29 standard chemical,...

1. Shallow lake ecosystems are normally dominated by submerged and emergent plants. Biological stabilising mechanisms help preserve this dominance. The systems may switch to dominance by phytoplankton, however, with loss of submerged plants. This process usually takes place against a background of increasing nutrient loadings but also requires addi...

1. The impacts of nutrients (phosphorus and nitrogen) and planktivorous fish on phytoplankton composition and biomass were studied in six shallow, macrophyte‐dominated lakes across Europe using mesocosm experiments. 2. Phytoplankton biomass was more influenced by nutrients than by densities of planktivorous fish. Nutrient addition resulted in incre...

1. Nutrient and fish manipulations in mesocosms were carried out on food-web interactions in a Mediterranean shallow lake in south-east Spain. Nutrients controlled biomass of phytoplankton and periphyton, while zooplankton, regulated by planktivorous fish, influenced the relative percentages of the dominant phytoplankton species. 2. Phytoplankton s...

1. Responses of zooplankton to nutrient enrichment and fish predation were studied in 1998 and 1999 by carrying out parallel mesocosm experiments in six lakes across Europe. 2. Zooplankton community structure, biomass and responses to nutrient and fish manipulation showed geographical and year-to-year differences. Fish had a greater influence than...

We studied the diet of the eastern mosquitofish Gambusia holbrooki with in situ experimental mesocosms located in a shallow lake. Different nutrient concentrations (phosphorus and nitrogen) and fish population densities were tested. Our results confirm that it is a planktivorous species, with also a great ingestion of algae and detritus. Nutrient f...

Fish communities of five shallow Spanish Mediterranean lakes were studied and stomach content analysed to determine the foraging pattern of each species and the influence on the lake food web. Lakes ranged from 0.5 to 2300 ha with less than 3m mean depth, while the trophic state varied from mesotrophy to hypertrophy. We fished during summer 2000 an...

Phytoplankton from Lake Albufera, a shallow, polimictic, freshwater lake, was studied before and after sewage diversion. The lake is used as a reservoir for rice cultivation in the surrounding lake area. Due to antropogenic eutrophication in the 1960s, the lake turned from a mesotrophic to a hypertrophic, turbid state. In 1991, a restoration plan o...

The European Water Framework Directive requires the determination of ecological status in European fresh and saline waters. This is to be through the establishment of a typology of surface water bodies, the determination of reference (high status) conditions in each element (ecotype) of the typology and of lower grades of status (good, moderate, po...

In order to disentangle the causes of variations in water chemistry among European shallow lakes, we performed standardised sampling programs in 86 lakes along a latitudinal gradient from southern Spain to northern Sweden. Lakes with an area of 0.1 to 27 000 ha and mean depth of 0.4–5.6 m located in low to high altitudes were investigated within th...

Phytoplankton from Lake Albufera, a shallow, polimictic, freshwater lake, was studied before and after sewage diversion. The lake is used as a reservoir for rice cultivation in the surrounding lake area. Due to antropogenic eutrophication in the 1960s, the lake turned from a mesotrophic to a hypertrophic, turbid state. In 1991, a restoration plan o...

In this work, we will present long-term changes of cyanobacteria in the largest coastal, shallow, Spanish freshwater lake (the Albufera of Valencia). The lake is used as a reservoir for rice cultivation in the sorrounded lake area. The Albufera lake was in a mesotrophic state during the first half of the 20th century and at the end of 1960s, due to...

A study on algae and bacteria population changes, as a function of time, was carried out in a pilot scale oxidation channel bioreactor using a carrousel system. Total Coliforms, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Streptococcus faecalis, the most common bacteria found in sewage, Scenedesmus obliquus and Chlorella vulgaris were the microalgae considered in...

Phytoplankton composition from two Mediterranean Coastal lakes located in Xeresa and Xeraco wetlands (Valencia, Spain) were studied. These wetlands from the Comunidad Valenciana have an important ecological and botanical value for the Iberian Peninsula, although nowadays they are threatened by turistic and agriculture development. The study lakes a...

VILLENA, M. J. & ROMO, S. 2001. Phytoplankton from two lakes of Xeresa and Xeraco wetlands (Valencia, Spain). Bot. Complutensis 25: 179-189. Phytoplankton composition from two Mediterranean Coastal lakes located in Xeresa and Xeraco wetlands (Valencia, Spain) were studied. These wetlands from the Comunidad Va- lenciana have an important ecological...

M.Jose.Villena@uv.es Susana.Romo@uv.es Se ha estudiado la composición fitoplanctónica de dos lagunas costeras mediterráneas, que corresponden a los marjales de Xeresa y Xeraco (Valencia). Estas zonas húmedas de la Comunidad Valenciana poseen un importante valor ecológico y botánico para nuestra Península, aunque actualmente se encuentran amenazadas...

A time series analysis using an sutocorrelation function (ACF) was used to assess the relative importance of density (DD) and non density-dependent - (NDD) factors on microfauna abundance of a two-stage activated sludge pilot plant treating industrial effluents. Although some previous work has detected a carrying capacity for the total microfauna a...

Changes in density, biomass, Shannon-Wiener diversity and equitability of epiphytes on different parts of Trapa natans (lamina, petiole, stem and roots) are described during the life cycle of this floating-leaved aquatic plant in the shallow eutrophic lake, Lago di Candia, northern Italy. The seasonal standing crop of epiphyton paralleled that of w...

A time series analysis using an autocorrelation function (ACF) was used to assess the relative importance of density (DD) and non density-dependent - (NDD) factors on microfauna abundance of a two-stage activated sludge pilot plant treating industrial effluents. Although some previous work has detected a carrying capacity for the total microfauna a...

This work reports phytoplankton changes in a shallow, acidic and oligotrophic lake (Loch Rusky, Scotland) from two different periods: one with artificial phosphate fertilization and neutral pH (SRP 3–18 µg l-1, pH 6.6–7.8, 1972–73) and the other with low phosphate and acidic pH values (SRP -1, pH 5.6–6.9, 1985–86). Phosphate enhanced markedly total...

The effects of aluminium sulphate on the water quality of the Retiro and Casa de Campo lakes in Madrid during 1992 and 1993 are reported. Results revealed that this technique improved water quality only for short-term periods. The tecnique mostly reduced nutrients concentrations, but resulted almost inefficient for microalgal control. Some guidelin...

We studied the seasonal variations and vertical zonation of the epiphyton biomass on the floating leaved water chestnut (Trapa natans) in the shallow eutrophic Lago di Candia. The different parts of the host plant -leaf, stem and aquatic root -were considered separately. The study was carried out from June to September 1994 together with an evaluat...

1. Phytoplankton dynamics, food chain changes and resilience in Lake Zwemlust, a shallow lake in The Netherlands, are described for the period 1986–94. 2. After biomanipulation in 1987, the lake moved through two alternative states, while the external nutrient loadings were maintained. A clear-water phase, mostly dominated by macrophytes, persisted...

Data on some relevant environmental variables and phytoplankton species composition, collected from the hypertrophic shallow lake Albufera of Valencia (Spain) during 1980–88, were examined using Redundancy Analysis (RDA). The hydrological cycle of the lake is manipulated for rice cultivation in the area. Seasonality and the particular hydrological...

The efficiency and effects of aluminium sulphate on water quality of two shallow urban eutrophic lakes of Madrid (Spain) is reported. Almost all the controlled variables improved with the treatment, especially nutrients, pH and transparency. The application of the method during spring and summer reduced nutrient content for the remainder of the sea...