TÜBİTAK PROJECTS

8. Project Title: TUBITAK- ÇAYDAG- 114Y415 Investigating the response of lake metabolisms and phytoplankton biomass to extreme events through automated high-frequency measurements

Project Information: Freshwater resources are threatened by climate change and human impact. Developed on-site sampling is no longer sufficient for the protection of these resources. By developing high frequency automated systems with technology, collecting data from water sources as often as desired helps us to evaluate the responses of ecosystems to changing environmental conditions, and strengthens future projections. With this project, we aimed to set up a high-frequency automatic monitoring station (HFAMS) in Eymir Lake. For this purpose, the lake ecosystem was closely examined for three years and its interactions with the environment were evaluated. In addition to the scientific part of the project, the citizen science part has been added and the Eymir Lake Ambassadors Training Program (ELATP) has been developed. Scientific information obtained in the project was shared with 5th and 7th grade students and it was aimed to create environmental awareness among students. This project is the expansion of automated monitoring system in Turkey, prominence of scientific thought in terms of education and inoculation of citizens to environmental awareness plays a very important role.

Funded by: TUBITAK - 398,264 TL

Duration of the Project: January 2015 – January 2018

Direction of the Project: Prof. Dr. Meryem Beklioglu (PI), Prof. Dr. Fatih Evrendilek (Researcher), Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nusret Karakaya (Researcher)

Project Assistants: Eti Ester Levi, Duygu Tolunay, Müşerref Büşra Yağlı, Nur Filiz, Uğur Işkın

Publications:

5. Presentation of the Citizen Science Package of the Project Number 114Y415 (Paper - International Conference - Invited Speaker)

4. Technology Wonders in Lake Monitoring Research: Turkey's Single High-Resolution Automatic Monitoring System Eymir Lake Application (Paper - National Paper - Oral Presentation)

3. Lake Ambassadors Training: I Know, Love, and Protect My Lake (Paper - National Paper - Oral Presentation)

2. Impact of Extreme Wind Events on Metabolism of Lake Eymir Using Real-time Automatic Lake Observation Station (Paper - International Paper - Oral Presentation)

1. Assessing the impact of environmental variables together with a short extreme wind event on metabolism Lake Eymir using high-frequency data (Paper - International Conference - Invited Speaker)

7. Project Title: TUBITAK 1002: 112Y387 Development of real-time lake monitoring and early warning system prototypes for Eymir Lake

Project Information: In this project, a prototype of a system, which samples and analyzes some physical and chemical variables of water in real-time and which also develops an early warning system for extreme events based on the gathered information, was built. With this prototype continuous water samples will be taken from the lake and measurements of temperature, dissolved oxygen, conductivity, and pH will be held in real-time. Moreover, the results will be transferred to the main web server and stored there. Furthermore, using the functional prototype of this integrated system, real-time data sets will be provided through the web and if needed, former data sets and real-time data will be accessible for further analysis and will be observed graphically on the web page www.eymirlakewatch.com.

Funded by: TUBITAK

Duration of the Project: March 2013 – September 2013

Direction of the Project: Prof. Dr. Meryem Beklioğlu (PI)

 

6. Project Title: TUBITAK - ÇAYDAG - 110Y125 Determining the Factors Affecting the Structural Role and Development of Aquatic Plants in the Shallow Lakes in the Mediterranean Climate Zone and Creating Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies by Determining in the Past, Today and Warmer Conditions.

Project Information: Within the scope of this project, the factors affecting the roles and development of aquatic plants in the shallow lakes selected between north-south latitudes in our country were investigated by instant photographing sampling based on the "Using Space Instead of Time" approach and the in situ mesocosm test with artificial plants. The data obtained through the "Using Space Instead of Time" approach were used to understand the effects of climate change on shallow lakes in our country. In line with these predictions, the adaptation of shallow lakes to warming conditions and measures to reduce possible ecosystem degradation were investigated. In order to test the accuracy of the findings obtained from field studies, the shelter effect of aquatic plants on zooplankton under the pressure of hunting was investigated with the experiments conducted in a controlled laboratory environment. Data on the status of aquatic plants belonging to the period of intensive agriculture and pre-urbanization (60-150 years) using paleolimnological methods and using sub-fossil Cladocera, aquatic plant macrofossils and diatoms from the sediment samples taken from the lake floor, the situation of the lake from past to present has been evaluated. The "instant photograph sampling" method, which is based on two sampling performed in spring and summer (growing season), has high spatial, but low temporal resolution. For this reason, in order to increase the temporal resolution of the project, the data obtained from the "Eymir and Mogan Lakes monitoring study" carried out by the METU Department of Biology, Limnology laboratory since 1997, including the project period, are also evaluated in line with the objectives of this project and used water with high temporal resolution (15 years). the changes of factors controlling the growth of plants and their structural roles both within the year and between years were evaluated. With the modeling approach, predictions about the future were produced and the possible effects of climate change on the dynamics of the lake were tried to be revealed more effectively. Mogan Lake modeling studies have been carried out in order to predict future lake ecosystem dynamics.

Funded by: TUBITAK – 394.000 TL

Duration of the Project: 2010 – 2013

Direction of the Project: Prof. Dr. Meryem Beklioğlu (PI), Prof. Dr. Nilsun Demir

Project Assistants: Assoc. Dr. Mustafa Duran, Assoc. Dr. Erkan Uzunhisarcıklı, Asst. Assoc. Dr. Müfit Özuluğ, Assist. Assoc. Dr. Arda Özen, Dr. Ayşe İdil Çakıroğlu, Dr. Ülkü Nihan Yazgan Tavşanoğlu, Gizem Bezirci, Eti E. Levi, Tuba Bucak, Jan E. P. Coppens

Publications:

5. Arda Özen, Michal Šorf, Carolina Trochine, Lone Liboriussen, Meryem Beklioglu, Martin Søndergaard, Torben L. Lauridsen, Liselotte Sander Johansson, Erik Jeppesen. (2013). Long‐term
effects of warming and nutrients on microbes and other plankton in mesocosms. Freshwater Biology- 58, 3, 483-493. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2427.2012.02824.x

4. Eti E. Levİ, Ayşe İ. Çakıroğlu, Tuba Bucak, Bent V. Odgaard, Thomas A. Davidson, Erik Jeppesen, Meryem Beklioğlu. (2014). Similarity between contemporary vegetation and plant remains in the surface sediment in Mediterranean lakes. Freshwater Biology. 59, 724-736. https://doi.org/10.1111/fwb.12299

3. Arda Özen, Tuba Bucak, Ülkü Nihan Tavşanoğlu, Ayşe İdil Çakıroğlu, Eti Ester Levi, Jan Coppens, Erik Jeppesen, Meryem Beklioğlu. (2014). Water level and fish-mediated cascading effects on the
microbial community in eutrophic warm shallow lakes: a mesocosm experiment. Hydrobiologia. 740, 25- 35 DOI: 10.1007/s10750-014-1934-1

2. Ayşe İdil Çakıroğlu, Ü. Nihan Tavşanoğlu, Eti E. Levi, Thomas A. Davidson, Tuba Bucak, Arda Özen, Gürçay K. Akyıldız, Erik Jeppesen, Meryem Beklioğlu. (2014). Relatedness Between Contemporary Cladocera and Surface Sediment Sub-Fossil Cladocera Assemblages in Turkish Lakes. Journal of Paleolimnology. 52 (4), 367-383. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-014-9799-x

1. Ülkü Nihan Tavşanoğlu, Sandra Brucet, Eti Ester Levi, Tuba Bucak, Gizem Bezirci, Arda Özen, Liselotte S. Johansson, Erik Jeppesen, Meryem Beklioğlu. (2015). Sized based diel migration of zooplankton in Mediterranean shallow lakes assessed from in situ experiments with artificial plants. Hydrobiologia, 753, 47–59. DOI 10.1007/s10750-015-2192-6.

5. Project Title: TUBITAK 109Y181 The Role of Microbial Cycle in Determining the Ecological Structure of Shallow Lakes

Project Information: Bacteria, nanoflagellates, and ciliates constitute the microbial loop and it is a model of the pathways of carbon and nutrient cycling through microbial components of pelagic aquatic communities. Relations between bacteria and bacterivores are not fully understood, especially lakes in the Mediterranean climate zone, with respect to their changes with the eutrophication and hydrological changes. Despite their abundance and likely importance in shallow lake ecosystems, little is known about the microbial communities, their interactions, and their response to environmental changes. Most of the studies were done in temperate and tropical climatic zones. We comprised a comparative study of the microbial food web community along North to South latitudinal gradient with contrasting nutrient and predation states. Little is known about the impact of trophic cascade on microbial loop and often the results are contradictory. We investigated the effect of different zooplankton taxa on the microbial loop community within situ food web experiments in 14 lakes along North to South latitudinal gradient. The effect of seasonality was determined by monitoring in Lakes Eymir and Mogan. However, the effect of water level fluctuations on the microbial loop was determined by the mesocosm experiment in Lake Eymir. We focused on explaining how the microbial loop changes with respect to trophic level of lakes, seasonality, hydrology, and grazing effect of zooplankton. The relationship between a classical food web and the microbial loop was also discussed.

Funded by: TUBITAK

Duration of the Project: March 2010 – March 2011

Direction of the Project: Prof. Dr. Meryem Beklioğlu (PI), Arda Özen (Researcher)

Project Assistants: Tuba Bucak, Ü. Nihan Yazgan Tavşanoğlu, A. İdil Çakıroğlu, Eti Levi, Ece Saraoğlu

Publications:

1. Arda Özen, Michal Šorf, Carolina Trochine, Lone Liboriussen, Meryem Beklioglu, Martin Søndergaard, Torben L. Lauridsen, Liselotte Sander Johansson, Erik Jeppesen. 2013. Long‐term effects of warming and nutrients on microbes and other plankton in mesocosms. Freshwater Biology- 58, 3, 483- 493. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2427.2012.02824.x.

4. Project Title: TUBITAK - ÇAYDAG - 105Y332. Creating Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies by Determining the Structural Role and Development of Aquatic Plants in the Shallow Lakes in the Mediterranean Climate Belt and Determining the Factors Affecting Their Development in the Past, Today and Warmer Conditions.

Project Information: The increase in temperature and decrease in precipitation due to global warming show that lakes in the northern latitudes may experience eutrophic conditions, such as lakes in the southern latitudes, which are under eutrophic conditions. Within the scope of this project, the effects of climate and eutrophication were comprehensively investigated with a holistic ecological approach, in 26 lakes sampled by "Snapshot Photography" method along a north-south latitudinal line with the "Space Instead of Time approach". The mesocosm experiment has shown that the reason for the inability of total phosphorus (TP) and total Nitrogen (TN) increase to affect the aquatic plant growth may be that the amount of underwater light in favor of the plants due to the excessive water level decrease in the summer of 2007. Food web relationships were examined in detail in four lakes for the first time in our country by using δ15N and δ13C isotopes. It was found that predatory fish such as Esox lucius, Stizostedion lucioperca and Salmo trutta, which are at the top of the food web, exhibit omnivorous feeding behavior in contrast to Abant and Büyük lakes, which do not freeze in winter in Hamam and Poyrazlar lakes. For the first time in our country, the sub-fossil Cladocera defined in the surface sediment was created using the environmental variables taken simultaneously, and the transfer functions were developed for the estimation of historical electrical conductivity and Secchi / Maximum depth. In addition, the plant macrofossils identified from the short cores and the past vegetation of seven lakes were determined.

Funded by: TUBITAK

Duration of the Project: 2006 – 2009

Direction of the Project: Asst. Assoc. Dr. Didem Gökçe Oğuzkurt (PI), Prof. Dr. Meryem Beklioğlu (Researcher)

Project Assistants: Ayşe İdil Çakıroğlu, Ülkü Nihan Yazgan Tavşanoğlu, Arş. Gör. Arda Özen, Korhan Özkan

Publications:

3. Korhan Özkan, Erik Jeppesen, Liselotte S. Johansson, Meryem Beklioglu. (2010). The response of periphyton and submerged macrophytes to nitrogen and phosphorus loadings in shallow warm lakes: a mesocosm experiment. Freshwater Biology 55, 463–475. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2427.2009.02297.x

2. Arda Özen, Burcu Karapinar, Ismail Küçük, Erik Jeppesen, Meryem Beklioglu. (2010). Drought-induced changes in nutrient concentrations and retention in two shallow Mediterranean lakes subjected to different degrees of management. Hydrobiologia 646, 61–72. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-010-0179-x

1. Ü. Nihan Tavsanoğlu, A. Idil Çakıroğlu, Seyda Erdoğan, Mariana Meerhoff, Erik Jeppesen, Meryem
Beklioğlu. (2012). Sediment – not plants – is the preferred refuge for Daphnia against fish predation in Mediterranean shallow lakes: an experimental approach. Freshwater Biology- 57(4), 795-802. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2427.2012.02745.x

3. Project Title: TUBITAK – ÇAYDAG- 104Y308. Model and Index Design Predicting Ecosystem Status by Determining the Effects of Salinity and Insecticide Amounts on Daphnia, a Biomarker in Lakes

Project Information: In this study, both how the survival rate and life cycles of Daphnia species change and the key species of freshwater ecosystems, in predator pressure of fish (natural stress factor), increased salinity, and pesticide densities were investigated in-depth laboratory experiments and models. The changes triggered in Daphnia individuals at the molecular level were determined by using FTIR spectroscopy for the first time.

Funded by: TUBITAK

Duration of the Project: July 2005 – October 2007

Direction of the Project: Prof. Dr. Meryem Beklioğlu (PI), Yrd. Doç. Dr. Feriha Yıldırım (Researcher, last 1 year*), Dr. Karsten Rinke (Researcher), Dr. Can Ozan Tan (Researcher)

Project Assistants: Sara Banu Akkaş, Gizem Bezirci, Ülkü Nihan Yazgan Tavşanoğlu

Publications:

2. Gizem Bezirci, Sara B. Akkas, Karsten Rinke, Feriha Yıldırım, Zeynep Kalaylıoğlu, Feride Severcan, Meryem Beklioglu. 2012. Impacts of salinity and fish-exuded kairomone on the survival and molecular profile of Daphnia pulex. Ecotoxicology, 21, 601–614. doi: 10.1007/s10646-011-0820-0

1. Bezirci, G., Akkas, S.B., Yıldırım, F., Beklioglu, M. Effects of salinity and Fish predation on Daphnia pulex life history traits. 5th Symposium for European Freshwater Sciences (SEFS), July 8-13, 2007, Palermo, Italy. (poster)

2. Project Title: TUBITAK, ÇAYDAG 105Y085.Determining the impact of Global climate change on lake ecosystems in Turkey

Project Information: The data of twelve lakes in Turkey was investigated to understand the relationship between the hydro-meteorological parameters and release systems (NAO, EAW, M) by using EOF (Empirical Orthogonal Function) and CCA (Canonical Correlation Analysis), and significant results were obtained. The dominant components of the large-scale atmosphere system in the region are identified using EOF analysis. Analyzes were made to understand the climatic effects on the biological structure of Mogan Lake.

Funded by: TUBITAK

Duration of the Project: October 2005 – October 2007

Direction of the Project: Prof. Dr. Temel Oğuz (PI), Prof. Dr. Meryem Beklioğlu (Researcher)

Project Assistants: Onur Kerimoğlu

Publications:

1. Onur Kerimoglu, Temel Oguz & Beklioglu Meryem. Impact of Global Climate changes on Lake Ecosystems, Turkey. International Conference on Climate change and the Middle East, Past, Present and Future, 20-23 November 2006. Istanbul, Turkey.

1. Project Title: TUBITAK - ÇAYDAG - 104Y371 Determining the water clarity and aquatic plant coverage in shallow lakes using remote sensing

Project Information: Determining and monitoring the current situation of shallow lake wetlands has great importance in preserving biodiversity and sustainability. Remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are highly promising techniques in this context. Within the scope of this project, it was aimed to determine and monitor the aquatic, surface plants and water clarity, which are important ecological markers of shallow lake wetlands, by using remote sensing techniques as well as traditional determination methods, and by using Geographical Information Systems, analysis, evaluation and mapping of values were performed.

Funded by: TUBITAK, METU BAP-2005-07-02-04, The Royal Netherlands Embassy in Ankara, Agricultural section, KNIP Project

Duration of the Project: July 2005 – January 2007

Direction of the Project: Asist. Prof. Dr. Zuhal Akyürek (PI), Prof. Dr. Meryem Beklioğlu (Researcher)

Project Assistants: Özge Karabulut Doğan

Publications:

3. Özge Karabulut Doğan, Zuhal Akyürek, Meryem Beklioğlu. 2009. Mapping and identification of submerged plants in a shallow lake, Turkey using Quickbird satellite data. Journal of Environmental Management: 90, 2138-2143. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2007.06.022

2. Özge Karabulut Doğan, Zuhal Akyürek, Meryem Beklioğlu. Mapping and Identification of Submerged Vegetation in a Shallow Lake, Turkey using Quickbird Satellite Data. Globwetland Symposium, ESA-ES-IN, Frascati, October 19-20, 2006, Rome, Italy.

1. Özge Karabulut Doğan, Zuhal Akyürek, Meryem Beklioğlu. Detection of Changes in Aquatic Vegetation Cover in two Central Anatolian Shallow Lake Wetlands Using Remote Sensing Techniques. 10th International Specialised Conference on Diffuse Pollution and sustainable Basin Management, September 18-22, 2006 İstanbul, Turkey.

OTHER PROJECTS

3.     DPT_BAP_ÖYP: Factor that control phytoplankton community structure in Turkish shallow lakes using multiple approaches. Meryem Beklioğlu (PI), Şeyda Erdoğan (MSc.). (2012- 2016)

2.     BAP-08-11-DPT. 2010 K121500-2. TEAB. Meryem Beklioğlu, Zuhal Akyürek, Helga Tılıç, Bahar Gedikli. Ecology of Lake Beyşehir. (2010) (135.000 TL)

1.     DPT_BAP_ÖYP: Role of hydrology, fish and nutrients in determining the ecology of shallow lakes. Meryem Beklioglu (Proje Yöneticisi), Arda Özen (MSc.). (2004- 2012)