ICPR – International Commission for the Protection of the Rhine

273. The Phytoplankton of the Rhine in 2018

Plankton are mostly microscopic small organisms floating in the water. The major share of aquatic vegetation here consists of single-celled algae, the so-called phytoplankton. In 2018, within the Rhine monitoring programme ‘Biology’, the phytoplankton of the Rhine was analysed from Lake Constance to the Rhine delta. In the long-term trend, the phytoplankton biomass has been declining since the 1980s and correlates with the decrease in nutrient concentrations and phytoplankton inputs from Lake Constance.

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