Crustacean Plankton Communities in Forty-Five Lakes in the Experimental Lakes Area, Northwestern Ontario

1971 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazimierz Patalas
Keyword(s):  
Common Species ◽  
Medium Size ◽  
Experimental Lakes Area ◽  
Northwestern Ontario ◽  
Lake Morphology ◽  
Diaptomus Oregonensis ◽  
Crustacean Plankton ◽  
Limnocalanus Macrurus ◽  
Zooplankton Communities ◽  
Plankton Communities

Zooplankton communities were characterized on the basis of samples taken in summer as vertical net hauls in the central part of lakes. Twenty-eight species of crustaceans were found in the 45 lakes studied. The highest number of species as well as the highest numbers of individuals (per unit of area) usually occurred in the largest deepest lakes with most transparent water.The most common species were: Bosmina longirostris, Tropocyclops prasinus mexicanus, Mesocyclops edax, Diaptomus minutus, Holopedium gibberum, and Cyclops bicuspidatus thomasi. Daphnids were rather scarcely represented.Senecella calanoides, Limnocalanus macrurus, and Diaptomus sicilis were confined to rather deeper lakes, whereas Diaptomus oregonensis was found mostly in smaller shallower lakes and Diaptomus leptopus in very small, but relatively deep lakes. Diaptomus minutus and C. b. thomasi, though widely distributed, showed a preference for deeper lakes, whereas T. p. mexicanus tended towards smaller shallower lakes.In particular lakes, the number of dominants ranged between 1 and 5, but three dominants per lake was the most commonly encountered case. The simplest community was composed of one cyclopoid, though the most common consisted of one cyclopoid, one diaptomid, and one cladoceran.Four types of communities were distinguished, each of them characteristic for a group of lakes of specific size and depth: (I) in the largest and deepest lakes (389–1007 ha of area, 30–117 m maximum depth); (II) in lakes of medium size and depth (6.5–200 ha, 4.8–33 m); (III) in small and very shallow lakes (3.1–28 ha, 2.7–7.3 m); (IV) in very small lakes with medium depth (1.3–3.7 ha, 6.1–12.8 m).The high degree of similarity between the plankton communities of the Experimental Lakes Area (ELA) and southern Ontario, as well as of some Great Lakes, suggest that they all basically belong to the same zoogeographical area.The fact that most species were distributed evenly throughout ELA may indicate the relative uniformity of the area. In ELA, lake morphology is mainly responsible for defining the type of community.

Recovery of Crustacean Zooplankton Species Richness in Sudbury Area Lakes following Water Quality Improvements

1991 ◽  
Vol 48 (9) ◽  
pp. 1635-1644 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Keller ◽  
N. D. Yan
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Species Richness ◽  
Trace Metal ◽  
Crustacean Zooplankton ◽  
Zooplankton Species ◽  
Quality Improvements ◽  
Metal Concentrations ◽  
Crustacean Plankton ◽  
Zooplankton Communities ◽  
Plankton Communities

Temporal patterns in the species richness of crustacean zooplankton communities were assessed in eight Sudbury area lakes based on data collected between 1973 and 1986. Excluding a consistently nonacidic reference lake, the study lakes showed general reductions in acidity and trace metal concentrations during this period, related to reduced contaminant emissions from the Sudbury smelters. Despite water quality improvements, several of the study lakes continue to have low pH and elevated trace metal concentrations which have inhibited recovery of zooplankton species richness. However, in lakes with more favourable current pH and lower trace metal concentrations, substantial increases in the average species richness of crustacean plankton communities have occurred, apparently due to both invasion of new species and more frequent occurrence of existing species. These results clearly demonstrate that reductions in acid-forming emissions lead to both chemical and biological improvements in some aquatic systems.

Crustacean Plankton Communities of 340 Lakes and Ponds in and near the National Parks of the Canadian Rocky Mountains

1974 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 855-869 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Stewart Anderson
Keyword(s):  
National Parks ◽  
Heat Content ◽  
Distribution Patterns ◽  
Abundant Species ◽  
Common Species ◽  
Canadian Rocky Mountains ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Crustacean Plankton ◽  
Species Occurrences ◽  
Plankton Communities

The crustacean plankton communities of 340 lakes and ponds in southern Alberta and southeastern British Columbia were examined. The waters are situated between 660 m and 2455 m in elevation, have areas from < 0.1 to 3940 hectares, and range from 0.5 m to 136 m in depth. They represent a wide range of salinities, from 2 ppm to 29,800 ppm. The communities were grouped into seven main types on the basis of the copepod species present. Of the 97 crustacean species present, 32 were copepods, 50 were cladocerans, and 9 were anostracans. The three most common species accounted for over 25% of the total species occurrences. Only two species were present in more than half the total lakes and ponds. A few species seem to be restricted to highly saline waters, and a few to low salinities, but most inhabited a wide range of aquatic environments. The most frequently occurring and abundant species tolerate a wide range of conditions. These species are also characterized by up to a fivefold variation in generation time. Certain species having restricted distribution patterns appear to be limited by both the chemistry of the water and the heat content. Aspects of species distribution, ecology, and interspecific relationships are discussed.

Midsummer Crustacean Zooplankton Communities in Acid-Stressed Lakes

1975 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 389-395 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Gary Sprules
Keyword(s):  
Group Analysis ◽  
Single Species ◽  
Common Species ◽  
Crustacean Zooplankton ◽  
Lake Area ◽  
Recurrent Group ◽  
Diaptomus Oregonensis ◽  
Daphnia Galeata Mendotae ◽  
Daphnia Catawba ◽  
Zooplankton Communities

The distribution of limnetic crustacean zooplankton species and species associations in 47 industrially acidified lakes of the La Cloche Mountains, Ontario, are examined. pH, which ranged from 3.8 to 7.0, and to a lesser extent lake area and depth are the major determinants of the structure of these communities. Mesocyclops edax, Cyclops bicuspidatus thomasi, Diaptomus minutus, Holopedium gibberum, Diaphanosoma leuchtenbergianum, and Bosmina sp. were common species which occurred over the entire pH range. Tropocyclops prasinus mexicanus, Epischura lacustris, Diaptomus oregonensis, Leptodora kindtii, Daphnia galeata mendotae, D. retrocurva, D. ambigua, and D. longiremis plus some other rare species making a total of 64% of all species found never or rarely occurred below pH 5.0. Polyphemus pediculus, Daphnia catawba, and D. pulicaria were found primarily in lakes with low pH. An increase in the complexity of the zooplankton communities with increasing pH was evident. Above pH 5.0 the communities contained 9–16 species with three or four dominant species; in lakes with pH 5.0 or less the communities comprised one to seven species with only one or two dominants. Compared with relatively unspoiled lakes of similar morphometry in northwestern Ontario (ELA lakes) the La Cloche lakes have unusually simple zooplankton associations, particularly the very acidic lakes. Recurrent group analysis of the La Cloche and ELA lakes indicated that they were both characterized by a single major recurrent group of six species, five of which were common to the two areas. In the La Cloche lakes the group of six species occurred most frequently in lakes with pH above 5.0 although it maintained its integrity even down to pH 5.0. It is concluded that pH has a great effect on these zooplankton communities, primarily in lakes with pH below 5.0 where many species are completely eliminated and even tolerant species become progressively rarer until in some lakes a single species (D. minutus) remains.

Land water linkages: influences of riparian deforestation on lake thermocline depth and possible consequences for cold stenotherms

1997 ◽  
Vol 54 (6) ◽  
pp. 1299-1305 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert France
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Stratification ◽  
Lake Trout ◽  
Salvelinus Namaycush ◽  
Thermocline Depth ◽  
Experimental Lakes Area ◽  
Northwestern Ontario ◽  
Riparian Trees ◽  
Tree Removal ◽  
Riparian Tree ◽  
Land Water

The purpose of the present study was to determine if riparian deforestation would expose lake surfaces to stronger winds and therefore bring about deepening of thermoclines and resulting habitat losses for cold stenotherms such as lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush). Removal of protective riparian trees through wind blowdown and two wildfires was found to triple the overwater windspeeds and produce thermocline deepening in two lakes at the Experimental Lakes Area. A survey of thermal stratification patterns in 63 northwestern Ontario lakes showed that lakes around which riparian trees had been removed a decade before through either clearcutting or by a wildfire were found to have thermocline depths over 2 m deeper per unit fetch length compared with lakes surrounded by mature forests. Riparian tree removal will therefore exacerbate hypolimnion habitat losses for cold stenotherms that have already been documented to be occurring as a result of lake acidification, eutrophication, and climate warming.

Dynamics of Cadmium-Stressed Plankton Communities

1980 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 403-414 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. S. Marshall ◽  
D. L. Mellinger
Keyword(s):  
Dissolved Oxygen ◽  
Lake Michigan ◽  
Zooplankton Community ◽  
Cadmium Stress ◽  
Crustacean Zooplankton ◽  
Functional Responses ◽  
Experimental Lakes Area ◽  
Individual Values ◽  
Zooplankton Density ◽  
Plankton Communities

Structural and functional responses of plankton communities to cadmium stress were studied during 1977 in Lake Michigan using small-volume (8 L) completely sealed enclosures, and in Canada's Experimental Lakes Area (ELA) Lake 223 using large-volume (1.5 × 105 L) open-surface enclosures. In Lake Michigan, reductions of the average abundance of micro-crustaceans by cadmium were significantly greater in "light" or shallow epilimnetic incubations than they were in "dark" or deep epilimnetic incubations. Measurements of dissolved oxygen indicated that this interaction with light (depth) was an indirect effect due to a reduction of photosynthesis and primary production. Zooplankton density and species diversity were not significantly affected within 21 d by cadmium concentrations [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] Cd/L, respectively, whereas final dissolved oxygen concentration and percentage similarity (PS) of the crustacean zooplankton community were significantly reduced by [Formula: see text] Cd/L. In the ELA Lake 223 experiment, the reducing effect of cadmium on zooplankton density increased up to 31 d after Cd enrichment and then decreased, probably due to decreasing Cd concentrations in the water. Values of PS on day 24 for the ELA enclosures enriched with 1 and 3 μg Cd/L were within the 95% confidence limits for individual values predicted from a regression of PS on cadmium for the 21-d Lake Michigan experiments.Key words: plankton communities, zooplankton, phytoplankton, cadmium stress, Lake Michigan, Canadian Shield lakes

Phosphorus Budgets and Stoichiometry during the Open-Water Season in Two Unmanipulated Lakes in the Experimental Lakes Area, Northwestern Ontario

1994 ◽  
Vol 51 (12) ◽  
pp. 2739-2755 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Water Column ◽  
Bottom Sediments ◽  
Open Water ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Experimental Lakes Area ◽  
Northwestern Ontario ◽  
Phosphorus Budgets ◽  
Mass Balance Approach ◽  
Primary And Secondary Producers ◽  
Column Total

A comparative mass-balance approach is used to describe and quantify phosphorus (P) cycles during the open-water season in two unmanipulated Experimental Lakes Area (ELA) lakes. A bimodal cycle generally prevailed, in which water-column total phosphorus (TP = total dissolved P plus sestonic particulate P) peaked just after ice-out and again late in the summer. Changes in mass of water-column TP were often much larger than corresponding net external inputs. Shifts of P to and from either zooplankton or fish in the water column do not explain the P residuals. Rather, the bottom sediments must have been adding P to the water column. Short-term regeneration of P from the bottom sediments also probably occurs in artificially eutrophied ELA lakes. The mechanism of regeneration is probably biological. Other aspects of P cycling and P stoichiometry are discussed, particularly in relation to nutrient control of population structure and the function of primary and secondary producers.

Predation by three glacial opportunists on natural zooplankton communities

1986 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Redwood W. Nero ◽  
W. Gary Sprules
Keyword(s):  
Previous Survey ◽  
Clearance Rates ◽  
Mysis Relicta ◽  
Chydorus Sphaericus ◽  
Theoretical Comparison ◽  
Feeding Experiments ◽  
Predatory Impact ◽  
Limnocalanus Macrurus ◽  
Zooplankton Communities

We examine the influence of three glacial opportunist predators, Mysis relicta, Limnocalanus macrurus, and Senecella calanoides, on natural zooplankton communities of central Ontario through a series of feeding experiments in small enclosures (23.6 L). Estimates of in situ clearance rates by M. relicta match previously determined rates, with the following gradation of values: Asplanchna sp. > daphnids and bosminids > Epischura lacustris > large cyclopoids, Chydorus sphaericus and small Diaptomus sp. > L. macrurus > S. calanoides. Clearance rates by M. relicta are similar for all daphnids and bosminids. Hypolimnetic species like Daphnia longiremis and Eubosmina longispina are apparently eliminated by M. relicta, while similarly vulnerable species survive because they have an epilimnetic refuge from M. relicta. Limnocalanus macrurus and S. calanoides prey primarily on copepods, Diaphanosoma spp., and rotifers in the hypolimnion. When both clearance rates and population densities of M. relicta, L. macrurus, and S. calanoides are taken into account, the total predatory impact of M. relicta is much larger than that of the two relict copepods. Based on a theoretical comparison of measured clearance rates by predators with estimated rates of prey recruitment, we conclude that differences in species composition and abundance between relict and nonrelict lakes described in a previous survey are due principally to predation by M. relicta.

Decline of Mysis relicta During the Acidification of Lake 223

1983 ◽  
Vol 40 (11) ◽  
pp. 1905-1911 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. W. Nero ◽  
D. W. Schindler
Keyword(s):  
Confidence Limits ◽  
Experimental Lakes Area ◽  
Mysis Relicta ◽  
Ph Values ◽  
Northwestern Ontario ◽  
Population Comparisons ◽  
Acidification Of Lake ◽  
Ph Range ◽  
Shield Lakes ◽  
Direct Toxicity

The population size of Mysis relicta in Lake 223 of the Experimental Lakes Area, northwestern Ontario, decreased from 6 700 000 ± 1 330 000 (± 95% confidence limits) during August of 1978, to 270 000 ± 75 000 during August of 1979, a 96% decrease. Because Mysis, a cold stenotherm, is restricted to the metalimnion and hypolimnion of lakes during summer, the pH range encountered by the population was 5.51 to 6.32 in 1978 and 5.23 to 6.10 in 1979, even though mean pH values in epilimnion waters for the 2 yr were 5.84 and 5.60. A decrease in pH of its habitat from 6.2 to 5.6 during fall overturn in 1979 caused the elimination of the remaining 4% of the population. Comparisons with four control lakes suggested that the decline and disappearance were not normal occurrences in unstressed lakes. Concentrations of Zn, Al, Mn, Fe, Cd, Cu, Ni, and Hg in Lake 223 water were low, and concentrations in Mysis were less than or equal to those in animals from five control lakes, suggesting that the decline in this species was not due to the toxic effects of metals. All size classes were affected, so that direct toxicity of hydrogen ion may be responsible for this abrupt population collapse. These results suggest that Mysis may be a useful early indicator of acidification damage to Precambrian Shield lakes.

Primary Production and Phytoplankton in the Experimental Lakes Area, Northwestern Ontario, and other Low-Carbonate Waters, and a Liquid Scintillation Method for Determining 14C Activity in Photosynthesis

1971 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. W. Schindler ◽  
S. K. Holmgren
Keyword(s):  
Primary Production ◽  
Liquid Scintillation ◽  
Species Abundance ◽  
Euphotic Zone ◽  
Phytoplankton Production ◽  
Phytoplankton Species ◽  
Experimental Lakes Area ◽  
Phytoplankton Species Composition ◽  
Northwestern Ontario ◽  
Filtration Error

A modified 14C method is described for measuring phytoplankton production in low-carbonate waters. The procedure includes the use of the Arthur and Rigler (Limnol. Oceanogr. 12: 121–124, 1967) technique for determining filtration error, liquid scintillation counting for determining the radioactivity of membrane filters and stock 14C solutions, and gas chromatography for measuring total CO2.Primary production, chlorophyll a, and total CO2 were measured for two dates in midsummer from each of several lakes in the Experimental Lakes Area (ELA), ranging from 1 to 1000 ha in area and from 2 to 117 m in maximum depth. Phytoplankton species abundance and biomass were determined for the same dates. Production ranged from 0.02 to 2.12 gC/m3∙day and from 0.179 to 1.103 g C/m2∙day. Chlorophyll ranged from 0.4 to 44 mg/m3 and from 5 to 98 mg/m2 in the euphotic zone. The corresponding ranges for live phytoplankton biomass were 120–5400 mg/m3 and 2100–13,400 mg/m2. Chrysophyceae dominated the phytoplankton of most of the lakes.A system for classifying the lakes in terms of phytoplankton species composition and production–depth curves is developed.

Population Dynamics of Lake Whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) During and After the Fertilization of Lake 226, the Experimental Lakes Area

1987 ◽  
Vol 44 (S1) ◽  
pp. s55-s63 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. H. Mills ◽  
S. M. Chalanchuk
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
The Other ◽  
Coregonus Clupeaformis ◽  
Lake Whitefish ◽  
Experimental Lakes Area ◽  
Northwestern Ontario

Responses of an unexploited population of lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) to the fertilization of Lake 226 in the Experimental Lakes Area, northwestern Ontario, are described for the fifth through eighth years of fertilization (1977–80) and for three years after fertilization was terminated (1981–83). A vinyl curtain separated Lake 226 into two basins. One basin (L226NE) received additions of phosphorus, nitrogen, and carbon; the other (L226SW) received nitrogen and carbon. Lake whitefish in L226NE were faster growing, had higher condition (k), were more numerous, had higher survival from age 0 to age 1, had greater biomass, and had greater production than L226SW whitefish from 1977 to 1980. Some of these effects continued in 1981 and 1982 after fertilization was terminated, but only biomass differences remained by 1983.

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