A textbook example of a tropical, warm-monomictic lake for didactic purposes

Limnology books provide examples from an inland aquatic ecosystem when each topic is presented. However, in only a few cases are the examples given and discussed throughout for a single water body, particularly the interrelationships among the abiotic and biotic components. This article introduces a “textbook” example of the environmental and biological dynamics of a tropical, warm monomictic lake, Lake Alchichica, Mexico, along its annual cycle. To accomplish this goal, the annual dynamics of its physical and chemical environment are introduced as a reference framework, which primarily establishes the fundamental characteristics that explain, to a great extent, the dynamics of the biological communities. Once the environmental dynamics of this tropical warm-monomictic lake have been described, the temporal succession of the planktonic, benthic, and nektonic communities is analyzed as they are coupled and influenced/controlled by the abiotic and biotic interactions. We expect that through this “textbook” example, people interested in limnology will understand the interrelationships of the abiotic and biotic variables that primarily explain the functioning of a lake’s ecosystem, particularly for the less known and less understood tropical inland water bodies.