Editing Lake Merced (section)

==Ecology==
[[File:Foggy morning at Lake Merced.jpg|Foggy Morning at Lake Merced.|upright=3.6|thumb|center|600px]]
The lake is fed by an underground spring, and at one time it did have an outlet to the ocean as shown on an 1869 United States Coast and Geodetic Survey Map.<ref name=Durham/> The [[salt]] level was always fluctuating, and therefore some species of [[fish]] which inhabit the lake are salt and freshwater adapted. {{Citation needed|date=July 2022}} There is active recreational fishing at the lake.
The lake's water level had been shrinking for decades, endangering the historic role of Lake Merced to support a healthy [[ecosystem]].<ref>{{cite journal | author1=Vivian Matuk | author2=Nick Salcedo | title=Lake Merced Hydrology and Water Quality | publisher=San Francisco State University | url=http://online.sfsu.edu/bholzman/LakeMerced/water.htm | date=17 July 2001 | access-date=2012-10-09 | archive-date=2019-05-13 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190513004046/http://online.sfsu.edu/bholzman/LakeMerced/water.htm | url-status=dead }}</ref>  Due to better management of the aquifer and occasional additions of water, lake level has been rising since 1990.<ref name="Vorster">{{Cite web |date=2016-03-04 |title=Lake Merced Level Fluctuations |url=http://explore.museumca.org/creeks/1700-OBDCPix4.html |access-date=2023-04-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304001521/http://explore.museumca.org/creeks/1700-OBDCPix4.html |archive-date=2016-03-04 }}</ref> The only natural freshwater lakes in San Francisco are [[Pine Lake (San Francisco)|Pine Lake]], Lake Merced, and [[Mountain Lake Park|Mountain Lake]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Marcellino |first1=Sara |title=San Francisco Lakes - |url=https://baynature.org/article/san-francisco-lakes/ |website=Bay Nature |access-date=1 June 2022 |date=April 1, 2003}}</ref>

[[File:Lake Merced Park, Fort Funston, and SF Zoo.jpg|thumb|upright 1.6|Aerial view of Lake Merced Park, [[Fort Funston]], and the [[San Francisco Zoo]]]]