The study looked at how different factors in lakes and their surroundings affect the types of tiny plants (phytoplankton) living in the water. They found that lakes with more nutrients had more types of phytoplankton, but less variety within those types. In lakes with a lot of nutrients, certain types of phytoplankton were more common. The depth of the lake, how fast the water moves, and the amount of certain chemicals in the water were important for the growth of phytoplankton. One lake with a lot of mixing and nutrients had a big bloom of a specific type of phytoplankton, even though the water was constantly moving. This shows that phytoplankton can tell us a lot about how healthy a lake is and help us protect it from getting too many nutrients.