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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 76(14)

Long-term abiotic changes in two technogenic lakes in the Wadi El-Rayan depression (Egypt)

Moham E. Goher A , Nickolai Shadrin B , Seliem M. El Sayed A , Mahmoud H. Hegab A , Nehad Khalifa A , Soaad A. Sabae A , Yaseen Abd El-Tawab A , Abdellatif M. Hussian C , Mikhail Grigoriev B D and Elena Anufriieva https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6237-7941 B *
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, Cairo 11694, Egypt.

B A.O. Kovalevsky Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas of RAS, RU-299011 Sevastopol, Russian Federation.

C Department of Biology, Faculty of Education, Matrouh University, Marsa Matrouh 51511, Egypt.

D Sevastopol State University, RU-299053 Sevastopol, Russian Federation.

* Correspondence to: lena_anufriieva@mail.ru

Handling Editor: Xavier Benito

Marine and Freshwater Research 76, MF25050 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF25050
Submitted: 6 March 2025  Accepted: 25 August 2025  Published: 18 September 2025

© 2025 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing

Abstract

Context

The 38-year long-term changes of six abiotic characteristics in two artificial desert lakes.

Aims

To investigate the long-term dynamics of salinity, water temperature, transparency, oxygen content, total phosphorus and nitrogen.

Methods

From 1984 to 2022, seasonal data were collected on 10 sites in two connected lakes, and statistical analysis was applied to them.

Key results

All studied parameters changed in both lakes. Salinity changed differently in lakes, as well as some other characteristics. This was due to the individual peculiarities of lakes, namely one being flowing, and another being terminal. In both lakes, the water temperature increased, which was more pronounced in the terminal lake. Some quasiperiodic changes were also noted.

Conclusions

This study presents the largely neglected effect of interactions between regional climatic changes and individual lake peculiarities, as well as between directed trends and natural cycles.

Implications

This information is valuable for the management of waterbodies, resource use and the development of sustainable polyaquaculture in them.

Keywords: arid areas, artificial lakes, biogenic elements, long-term changes, oxygen, salinity, transparency, water temperature.

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