Variation of nitrogen forms in lakes with different intensity of anthropogenic pressure

Abstract The aim of this study was to compare the concentration of nitrogen and trace the dynamics of its changes in two lakes with different intensity of anthropogenic pressure. The dominant land use of Lake Paskierz catchment is built-up areas, while in Lake Sajmino, wasteland is the dominant land use. The total amount of nitrogen in Lake Paskierz ranged from 1.68 to 6.58 g Ntot m-3, while in Lake Sajmino it was from 1.03 to 1.84 g Ntot m-3. The organic fraction was a dominant form in the surface water layers of the examined lakes. A slightly different situation was found in near-bottom water layers of Lake Paskierz, where ammonium nitrogen was the dominant form in the summer stagnation. In other cases organic nitrogen was a dominant form in each of the reservoirs. Concentrations of nitrites and nitrates were low and did not affect essentially the overall amount of nitrogen in the studied lakes. Based on the results, it can be concluded that Lake Paskierz is overfertilized. The high concentrations of ammonia measured in near-bottom layers of the lake indicate that the internal supply may be a very important process affecting the trophic status. Lake Sajmino was characterized by significantly less nitrogen abundance, although the periodically increasing nitrogen concentration reveals the presence of adverse anthropopressure on the lake.