Abstract
A greater appreciation of biotic responses to environmental changes is warranted in small, shallow lakes because of the high number of these habitats, and their unique contributions to regional biodiversity. Furthermore, recent water chemistry monitoring data show that shallow lakes in Ontario are sensitive and have responded significantly to environmental stressors such as acid deposition and lake water calcium decline. Here, we use paleoecological techniques to examine cladoceran assemblages in modern and pre-industrial sediments of 30 shallow lakes to determine the key environmental gradients that influence present-day assemblages, and to assess how assemblage structure has changed since pre-industrial times (pre-1850s). Redundancy analysis of present-day cladoceran assemblages and key environmental variables identified lake surface area and Secchi depth as significant predictors of assemblage composition. In our data set, Secchi depth was not correlated to water clarity but rather to macrophyte cover, suggesting that cladoceran assemblages were highly influenced by habitat structure. In contrast to nearby, deeper lakes, where pelagic cladoceran taxa have changed significantly in relative abundance over time, cladoceran assemblages in present-day and pre-industrial sediments of shallow lakes did not differ significantly in composition. While the specific reasons for this muted response are unknown, we hypothesize that: (1) littoral taxa may be less sensitive to low Ca concentrations, or ecological thresholds have not yet been crossed or are lower for littoral taxa; (2) calcium availability may vary spatially within shallow lakes, and this is not captured in a single measure of water chemistry from the centre of the lake; and/or (3) habitat structure is more important than water chemistry as a predictor of assemblage composition in these study lakes, and this has not changed significantly over time.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ashforth D, Yan ND (2008) The interactive effects of calcium concentration and temperature on the survival and reproduction of Daphnia pulex at high and low food concentrations. Limnol Oceanogr 53:420–432
Bray JR, Curtis JT (1957) An ordination of the upland forest communities of southern Wisconsin. Ecol Monogr 27:325–349
Brooks JL, Dodson SI (1965) Predation, body size, and composition of plankton. Science 150:28–35
Cairns A (2010) Field assessments and evidence of impact of calcium decline on Daphnia (Crustaceae, Anomopoda) in Canadian Shield Lakes. M.Sc. Thesis. Department of Biology, York University, Toronto
Chambers PA, Kalff J (1985) Depth distribution and biomass of submersed aquatic macrophyte communities in relation to Secchi depth. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 42:701–709
Chapman LJ, Putnam DF (1984) The physiography of southern Ontario special, vol 2. Ontario Geological Survey, Sudbury
Cheruvelil KS, Soranno PA (2008) Relationships between lake macrophyte cover and lake and landscape features. Aquat Bot 88:219–227
Clarke KR (1993) Non-parametric multivariate analyses of changes in community structure to environmental variables. Aus J Ecol 18:117–143
Declerck SA, Bakker ES, van Lith B, Kersbergen A, van Donk E (2011) Effects of nutrient additions and macrophyte composition on invertebrate community assembly and diversity in experimental ponds. Basic Appl Ecol 12:466–475
DeSellas AM, Paterson AM, Sweetman JN, Smol JP (2008) Cladocera assemblages from the surface sediments of south-central Ontario (Canada) lakes and their relationships to measured environmental variables. Hydrobiologia 600:105–119
DeSellas AM, Paterson AM, Sweetman JN, Smol JP (2011) Assessing the effects of multiple environmental stressors on zooplankton assemblages in Boreal Shield lakes since pre-industrial times. J Limnol 70:41–56
Elmoor-Loureiro LMA (2007) Phytophilous cladocerans (Crustacea, Anomopoda and Ctenopoda) from Paranã River Valley, Goiás, Brazil. Rev Bras Zool. doi:10.1590/S0101-81752007000200012
Frey DG (1986) Cladocera analysis. In: Berglund BE (ed) Handbook of palaeoecology and palaeohydrology. Wiley, NY, pp 667–692
Fryer G (1980) Acidity and species diversity in freshwater crustacean faunas. Freshw Biol 10:41–45
Glew J (1988) A portable extruding device for close interval sectioning of unconsolidated core samples. J Paleolimnol 1:235–239
Glew J (1989) A new trigger mechanism for sediment samplers. J Paleolimnol 2:241–243
Hammer O, Harper DAT, Ryan PD (2001) PAST: Paleontological statistics software package for education and data analysis. Palaeontologia Electronica 4:1–9
Hann BJ, Turner MA (2000) Littoral microcrustacea in Lake 302S in the Experimental Lakes Area of Canada: acidification and recovery. Freshwat Biol 43:13–46
Houle D, Ouimet R, Couture S, Gagnon C (2006) Base cation reservoirs in soil control the buffering capacity of lakes in forested catchments. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 63:471–474
Jeffries DS, Snyder WR (1983) Geology and geochemistry of the Muskoka-Haliburton study area. Ontario Ministry of Environment, Data Report, DR 83/2
Jeppesen E, Jensen JP, Søndergaard M, Lauridsen T, Pedersen LJ, Jensen L (1997) Top-down control in freshwater lakes: the role of nutrient state, submerged macrophytes and water depth. Hydrobiology 342–343:151–164
Jeziorski A, Yan ND (2006) Species identity and aqueous calcium concentrations as determinants of calcium concentrations of freshwater crustacean zooplankton. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 63:1007–1013
Jeziorski A, Yan ND, Paterson AM, DeSellas AM, Turner MA, Jeffries DS, Keller B, Weeber RC, McNicol DK, Palmer ME, McIver K, Arseneau K, Ginn BK, Cumming BF, Smol JP (2008) The widespread threat of calcium decline in fresh waters. Science 322:1374–1377
Jeziorski A, Paterson AM, Smol JP (2012a) Changes since the onset of acid deposition among calcium-sensitive cladoceran taxa within softwater lakes of Ontario, Canada. J Paleolimnol 48:323–337
Jeziorski A, Paterson AM, Smol JP (2012b) Crustacean zooplankton sedimentary remains from calcium-poor lakes: complex responses to threshold concentrations. Aquat Sci 74:121–131
Jeziorski A, Tanentzap AJ, Yan ND, Paterson AM, Palmer ME, Korosi JB, Rusak JA, Arts MT, Keller W, Ingram R, Cairns A, Smol JP (2015) The jellification of north temperate lakes. Proc R Soc B 282:20142449
Keller W (2007) Implications of climate warming for Boreal Shield lakes: a review and synthesis. Env Rev 15:99–112
Korhola A, Rautio M (2001) Cladocera and other Branchiopod crustaceans. In: Smol JP, Birks HJB, Last W (eds) Tracking environmental change using lake sediments: zoological indicators, vol 4. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht
Korosi JB, Smol JP (2012a) An illustrated guide to the identification of cladoceran subfossils from sediments in northeastern North America: part 1—the Saphniidae, Leptodoridae, Bosminidae, Polyphemidae, Holopididae, Sididae, and Macrothricidae. J Paleolimnol 48:571–586
Korosi JB, Smol JP (2012b) An illustrated guide to the identification of cladoceran subfossils from lake sediments in northeastern North America: part 2—the Chydoridae. J Paleolimnol 48:587–622
Korosi JB, Jeziorski A, Smol JP (2011) Using morphological characters of subfossil daphniid post-abdominal claws to improve taxonomic resolution with species complexes. Hydrobiologia 676:117–128
Kurek J, Korosi JB, Jeziorski A, Smol JP (2010a) Establishing reliable minimum count sizes for cladoceran subfossils sampled from lake sediments. J Paleolimnol 44:603–612
Kurek J, Cwynar LC, Weeber RC, Jeffries DS, Smol JP (2010b) Ecological distributions of Chaoborus species in small, shallow lakes from the Canadian Boreal Shield ecozone. Hydrobiologia 652:207–221
Kurek J, Weeber R, Smol JP (2011) Environment trumps predation and spatial factors in structuring cladoceran communities from Boreal Shield lakes. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 68:1408–1419
Mallory ML, McNicol DK, Cluis DA, Laberge C (1998) Chemical trends and status of small lakes near Sudbury, Ontario, 1983–1995: evidence of continued chemical recovery. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 55:63–75
McNicol DK, Mallory ML, Kerekes JJ (1996) The Canadian Wildlife LRTAP Biomonitoring Program Part 1–3. Technical Report Series No 248, Canadian Wildlife Service
Mills RB, Paterson AM, Blais JM, Lean DRS, Smol JP, Mierle G (2009) Factors influencing the achievement of steady state in mercury contamination among lakes and catchments of south-central Ontario. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 66:187–200
Minns CK, Moore JE, Shuter BJ, Mandrak NE (2008) A preliminary national analysis of some key characteristics of Canadian lakes. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 65:1763–1778
Mosscrop LE (2013) Long-term stability of cladoceran assemblages affected by multiple stressors in small, shallow, south-central Ontario lakes. M.Sc. Thesis. Department of Biology, Queen’s University, Kingston
Neill WE (1981) Impact of Chaoborus predation upon the structure and dynamics of a crustacean zooplankton community. Oecologia 48:164–177
Palmer ME, Yan ND, Paterson AM, Girard RE (2011) Water quality changes in south-central Ontario lakes and the role of local factors in regulating lake response to regional stressors. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 68:1038–1050
Palmer ME, Yan ND, Somers KM (2014) Climate change drives coherent trends in physics and oxygen content in North American lakes. Clim Change 124:285–299
Paterson AM, Cumming BF, Smol JP, Hall RI (2001) Scaled chrysophytes as indicators of water quality changes since pre-industrial times in the Muskoka-Haliburton region, Ontario, Canada. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 58:2468–2481
Pérez-Fuentetaja A, Dillon PJ, Yan ND, McQueen DJ (1999) Significance of dissolved organic carbon in the prediction of thermocline depth in small Canadian shield lakes. Aquat Ecol 33:127–133
Scheffer M (2004) Ecology of Shallow Lakes. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht
Shapiera M, Jeziorski A, Paterson AM, Smol JP (2011) Cladoceran response to calcium decline and the subsequent inadvertent liming of a softwater Canadian Lake. Water Air Soil Poll 223:2437–2446
Søndergaard M, Jensen JP, Jeppesen E (2003) Role of sediment and internal loading of phosphorus in shallow lakes. Hydrobiologia 506–509:135–145
Søndergaard M, Jeppesen E, Jensen JP (2005) Pond or lake: does it make any difference? Archiv für Hydrobiol 162:143–165
Sweetman JN, LaFace E, Rühland KM, Smol JP (2008) Evaluating the response of Cladocera to recent environmental changes in lakes from the central Canadian Arctic treeline region. Arct Antarct Alp Res 40:584–591
Szeroczynska K, Sarmaja-Korjonen K (2007) Atlas of subfossil Cladocera from central and northern Europe. Friends of the Lower Vistula Society, Swiecie
ter Braak CFJ, Šmilauer P (2002) CANOCO Reference Manual and CanoDraw from Windows User’s Guide: Software for Canonical Community Ordination (v 4.5). Microcomputer Power, Ithaca
Tessier AJ, Woodruff P (2002) Cryptic trophic cascade along a gradient of lake size. Ecology 83:1263–1270
Tremel B, Frey SEL, Yan ND, Somers KM, Pawson TW (2000) Habitat specificity of littoral Chydoridae (Crustacea, Branchiopoda, Anomopoda) in Plastic Lake, Ontario, Canada. Hydrobiologia 432:195–205
Walseng B, Halvorsen G, Sloreid SE (2001) Littoral microcrustaceans (Cladocera and Copepoda) as indicators of recovery of a limed water system. Hydrobiologia 450:159–172
Walseng B, Yan ND, Schartau AK (2003) Littoral microcrustacean (Cladocera and Copepoda) indicators of acidification in Canadian Shield lakes. Ambio 32:208–213
Walseng B, Yan ND, Pawson TW, Skarpaas O (2008) Acidity versus habitat structure as regulators of littoral microcrustacean assemblages. Freshwat Biol 53:290–303
Watmough SA, Aherne J, Dillon PJ (2003) Potential impact of forest harvesting on lake chemistry in south-central Ontario at current levels of acid deposition. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 60:1095–1103
Wellborn GA, Skelly DK, Werner EE (1996) Mechanisms creating community structure across a freshwater habitat gradient. Ann Rev Ecol Syst 27:337–363
Yan ND, Somers KM, Girard RE, Paterson AM, Keller W, Ramcharan CW, Rusak JA, Ingram R, Morgan GE, Gunn JM (2008) Long-term trends in zooplankton of Dorset, Ontario lakes: the probable interactive effects of changes in pH, total phosphorus, dissolved organic carbon, and predators. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 65:862–877
Yarwood-Buchanan S (2005) Cladoceran assemblages of small freshwater bodies in lowland England and Wales. Ph.D. Thesis. Oxford Brookes University. Oxford, UK
Acknowledgments
We thank Algonquin Provincial Park and the Haliburton Forest Reserve for permission to sample lakes within their boundaries. We are grateful to Jennifer Barrow and Andrew Labaj for their fieldwork assistance. Canadian Wildlife Service water sample collection and analysis was supported by Environment Canada’s Acid Rain Program. This research was funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada via grants to JPS.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mosscrop, L.E., Paterson, A.M., DeSellas, A.M. et al. Long-term stability of cladoceran assemblages in small, shallow, Canadian Shield lakes experiencing marked calcium declines. Aquat Sci 77, 547–561 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00027-015-0402-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00027-015-0402-y