Inlay Lake is the second largest natural lake in Myanmar. Located in Shan State, in the eastern part of the country, it is a known biodiversity hotspot. The lake is negatively affected by an increasing local human population and rapid growth in both agriculture and tourism. In recent decades, several studies have listed faunistic and floristic groups in Inlay Lake, but there is still a general lack of knowledge about the aquatic macrophyte and phytoplankton community composition and abundance, and their interactions. To fill this knowledge gap, field surveys of biological and physical and chemical parameters were carried out in the period 2014–2017. They show that Inlay Lake is a shallow, clear water and calcareous lake, with nutrient concentrations indicating mesotrophic-eutrophic conditions. However, close to the shore, nutrient concentrations are generally higher, reflecting pollution from inflowing rivers, shoreline villages and floating gardens. Both the richness and abundance of aquatic macrophytes in Inlay Lake were high, with several species forming extensive stands in most of the lake over the whole survey period. Total phytoplankton and cyanobacterial biomass were low, but cyanobacteria included toxin-producing strains of Microcystis, suggesting that cyanobacterial and total phytoplankton biomass need to be kept low to avoid potentially harmful cyanobacterial blooms. Submerged macrophyte abundance and phytoplankton biomass were inversely correlated in the heavily vegetated northern lake area. Our survey suggests a great importance of the submerged macrophytes to the general water quality and the clear water state in Inlay Lake. Maintaining high macrophyte abundances should therefore be a goal in management strategies, both for Inlay Lake and other lakes in Myanmar. It is highly desirable to include macrophytes and phytoplankton in the lake monitoring in Myanmar.

镶嵌湖是缅甸第二大天然湖泊。它位于该国东部的掸邦，是众所周知的生物多样性热点。该湖受到当地人口增加以及农业和旅游业快速增长的负面影响。近几十年来，多项研究已经列出了镶嵌湖中的动物群和植物群，但对水生大型植物和浮游植物群落组成和丰度及其相互作用仍普遍缺乏了解。为了填补这一知识空白，2014-2017 年期间进行了生物和物理和化学参数的实地调查。他们表明，镶嵌湖是一个浅水、清澈的水和钙质湖泊，营养浓度表明中营养-富营养条件。然而，靠近岸边，养分浓度普遍较高，反映了流入河流、海岸线村庄和漂浮花园的污染。镶嵌湖水生植物丰富度和丰度均较高，在整个调查期间，有几种物种在湖中的大部分地区形成了广泛的林分。总浮游植物和蓝藻生物量较低，但蓝藻包括产毒菌株微囊藻，表明需要将蓝藻和总浮游植物生物量保持在较低水平，以避免潜在有害的蓝藻大量繁殖。在植被茂密的北部湖区，沉水植物丰度和浮游植物生物量呈负相关。我们的调查表明沉水植物对镶嵌湖的总体水质和清澈的水状态具有重要意义。因此，维持高丰度的大型植物应成为缅甸镶嵌湖和其他湖泊管理战略的目标。在缅甸的湖泊监测中包括大型植物和浮游植物是非常可取的。