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Patterns of temporal variation in Lake Titicaca. A high altitude tropical lake. I. Background, physical and chemical processes, and primary production

  • The Sub-tropics and Tropics
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Abstract

A statistical analysis is presented of patterns of variation in some physical, chemical, and biological variables for a 6 year series of data from the tropical, high altitude Lake Titicaca (Peru-Bolivia). ANOVA techniques and autocorrelation analyses were used to partition the variance in Titicaca, and in some comparison tropical and temperate series, into components with repeatable annual cycles and components attributable to other kinds of patterns.

In Titicaca, insolation and stratification are highly seasonal in pattern of variation, although the amount of variance relative to means is small compared to temperate lakes. However, the seasonal pattern of physical variation is only weakly imposed on chemical and biological processes, to judge from analyses of silicate, oxygen, and primary production series. Comparable temperate series of primary production and chlorophyll a are much more seasonal.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Ecology, University of California, 95616, Davis, CA, USA

    Peter J. Richerson & Patrick J. Neale

  2. Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Utah State Universuty, 84322, Logan, UT, USA

    Wayne Wurtsbaugh

  3. Lake Titicaca Laboratory, Instituto del Mar del Peru, Apartado 292, Puno, Peru

    T. René Alfaro

  4. Taupo Research Laboratory, Division of Marine and Freshwater Studies, DSIR, P.O. Box 415, Taupo, New Zealand

    Warwick Vincent

Authors
  1. Peter J. Richerson
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  2. Patrick J. Neale
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  3. Wayne Wurtsbaugh
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  4. T. René Alfaro
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  5. Warwick Vincent
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Richerson, P.J., Neale, P.J., Wurtsbaugh, W. et al. Patterns of temporal variation in Lake Titicaca. A high altitude tropical lake. I. Background, physical and chemical processes, and primary production. Hydrobiologia 138, 205–220 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00027241

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