, 2012). This might be the case for Apopka (Florida), a lake that is rather homogeneous with respect to its depth; and several perturbations did not lead to a lake wide shift. However after persistent eutrophication a single hurricane event led to a whole lake shift from macrophyte to phytoplankton domination ( Schelske et al., 2010). Heterogeneous

lakes, however, have most likely regions that only appear in a single stable state besides these potentially alternative stable compartments. These single stable state compartments will destabilise the alternatively stable compartments that appear in a contrasting state, but stabilise those that have the same state. Therefore, the regions that could potentially show alternative stable states tend to appear in the same state as their neighbouring compartments that only have a single find more state. As a consequence, high internal selleck products connectivity will enhance synchrony throughout the lake, through which edges of the grey domain in Fig. 9A will move towards each other, making the domain of alternative stable states more confined. In Lake

Markermeer for example, the high turbidity in most of the lake can easily affect the more shallow parts and thereby prevent macrophyte growth ( Kelderman et al., 2012b). In Lake Pátzcuaro (Mexico), however, which is highly heterogeneous with respect to depth, main water flow direction to the north prevents the turbid water of the north from affecting the macrophytes in the south ( Torres, 1993). This low connectivity between the lake compartments leads to asynchronous response within the lake to eutrophication. Low connectivity may allow for alternative stable states to occur within certain lake compartments and not within others. Because

shifts in such a lake will occur at different times, the lake as a whole will probably show a gradual response to eutrophication stresses ( Scheffer et al., 2012). In Lake Balaton, for example, a natural narrowing in the lake prevents connectivity between the west and east side of the lake. Though alternative stable states are unlikely to occur in this lake, this narrowing leads to different SPTLC1 eutrophic levels in different compartments of the lake ( Pálffy et al., 2013). The unique combination of lake size, spatial heterogeneity and internal connectivity determines the spatial extent of stable states in large shallow lakes. At locations where size effects prevail, macrophytes are generally absent and alternative stable states are unlikely to occur. However, the occurrence of macrophytes is inexplicable when only size effect is taken into account. By including spatial heterogeneity in the analysis, the presence of macrophytes and alternative stable states in large shallow lakes is better understood.