Here's a long term focus on a northern lake with plants, and we see that the plants really define the system, even independently of the nutrient status.
So rich or lean, the plants do define the system and balance.

Some Aquarists have argued that this is not the case in their systems, leaner is better and reduced algae, better plant dominance, however, the mountain of evidence suggest otherwise.

Switching to southern sub and tropical lakes, we also find the same patterns in several hundred surveyed aquatic macrophyte lakes in Florida with wide ranges of nutrients.

Seems that the natural systems in both cold and warm waters are similar if you find a nice shallow macrophyte dense system.


Regards,
Tom Barr