The large majority of papers on Douglas Lake have addressed taxonomic and ecological questions concerning its biota. The few comments l will make serve only to point to the extensive information available for particular groups. In contrast to the extensive work available for benthic invertebrates and plants, studies of the plankton have been few. A large volume of literature exists in addition concerning the fungal and animal parasites of Douglas Lake. These and other references may be located by those interested from the Station's bibliography.
Basins gradually fill with sediments, and productivity typically increases.
The process is commonly termed eutrophication. Rates of such change are typically slow and usually difficult to detect. Human disturbances of a lake's watershed can, by adding critical nutrients to the lake, also produce changes in productivity. With the availability of limnological information for Douglas Lake over much of this century, it is not surprising that aquatic researchers here have at times addressed this question of trophic change. Three such studies are summarized here.