Objective We propose to analyze and compare long-term (more than 20 years) phyo-and zooplankton dynamics in four European pre-alpine lakes.Our goal is to better understand the response of plankton populations to changes in:a) nutrient loading,b) climatic variability andc) the interaction between nutrient loading and climatic variability.These analyses based on extremely valuable data which have not been fully exploited yet, will give important results both in applied and theoretical ecology. The selected lakes (Lake Constance, Geneva, Zürich and Walen) recently underwent eutrophication and oligotrophication. Being reasonably closed to each other, both of them were probably strongly influenced by the North Atlantic Oscillation. Comparative analyses of these lakes are ideally suited to distinguish similarities and differences between long-term structural and functional changes. Fields of science natural sciencesbiological sciencesecologynatural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesclimatologyclimatic changesnorth atlantic oscillation Programme(s) FP5-EESD - Programme for research, technological development and demonstration on "Energy, environment and sustainable development, 1998-2002" Topic(s) Data not available Call for proposal IHP-MCIF-99-1 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme Data not available Coordinator UNIVERSITAET KONSTANZ EU contribution No data Address Universitaetsstrasse 10 KONSTANZ Germany See on map Total cost No data