Author(s): Giulia Valerio
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Keywords: water color; Natural Reserve; Torbiere; algal blooms; biodiversity loss; Lake Iseo; deep anoxia; Giulia Valerio
Abstract:
The color of the water can say a lot about the story of a lake. This short account presents the story of the picture on the cover of this issue, which frames the Natural Reserve of “Torbiere”, a manmade shallow wetland made by a set of interconnected ponds, dating back to the beginning of the twentieth century, when the site was exploited for peat extraction. The low transparency and the algal blooms are the tip of the iceberg in a system where the last decades have seen a progressive loss in biodiversity. On the upper part of the picture, the southern tip of deep Lake Iseo is visible, an originally oligotrophic lake, now struggling with deep anoxia. This clashes with the relevance of the surrounding context and demands choices for the future identity of this place and consequent management actions.
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