Abstract
Swan Lake is a small kettle lake located on the Oak Ridges Moraine; a moraine that is recognized as an important source of ground water for the nearby and rapidly expanding Greater Toronto Area. A paleolimnological reconstruction using pollen and diatoms from the lake sediments showed significant changes in biological community composition through the last ∼400 years. Alterations in the diatom and pollen assemblages were most dramatic ca. A.D. 1850, correlating with the highest sediment flux in the lake between the period ca. A.D. 1850 and A.D. 1870. These changes were directly linked to regional deforestation and agricultural activities associated with European settlement. The pollen record from ca. A.D. 1850 to present day indicated that tree species (e.g. Pinus spp., Tsuga canadensis) were declining, while grass (Poaceae) and invasive species (e.g. Ambrosia) were increasing. Around A.D. 1850, the diatom flora changed from an assemblage dominated by large, benthic species (e.g. Sellaphora pupula, Pinnularia cf. maior, and Stauroneis phoenicenteron) to an assemblage characterized by smaller, tychoplanktonic (e.g. Fragilaria tenera, Staurosirella pinnata) and epiphytic (e.g. Achnanthidium minutissimum, Rossithidium linearis) taxa. This diatom community change supports the intermediate disturbance hypothesis which predicts a high level of diversity and richness following an intermediate to intense disturbance of short duration. Phosphorus concentrations in Swan Lake were inferred using a diatom-based regional calibration model, and the results indicated marked changes in lake water chemistry through time (from below detection limits before land clearance and settlement to 19.3 μg l−1 in the current sediments), which were concurrent with episodes of regional deforestation and land-use change. Although the sediment and biological records indicate that the lake ecology has stabilized over the last 30–50 years, paleolimnological records show that the water quality and biology of Swan Lake has changed dramatically and not returned to pre-settlement conditions. Swan Lake presents a detailed record of the impact created by deforestation and urban development with a population of <50 individuals per km2. Detailed paleolimnological studies like Swan Lake, in tandem with global human footprint studies, can create realistic estimates of land-use impacts at the global scale.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anderson NJ (2000) Miniview: diatoms, temperature and climatic change. Eur J Phycol 35:307–314
Archives of Ontario (1979) Ontario archives land record index township listing, p 3387
Arnell N, Liu C (2001) Hydrology and water resources in climate change 2001:impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. In: McCarthy JJ, Canziani OF, Leary NA, Dokken DJ, White KS (eds) Contribution of Working Group II to the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, pp 191–233, http://www.grida.no/climate/ipcc_tar/wg2/170.htm#437 (November 15, 2005)
Atasoy M, Palmquist RB, Phaneuf DJ (2006) Estimating the effects of urban residential development on water quality using microdata. J Environ Manage 79:399–408
Beaver J (1981) Apparent ecological characteristics of some common freshwater diatoms. Ontario Ministry of the Environment. Don Mills, Ontario, 513 pp
Bigler D, Hall RI (2003) Diatoms as quantitative indicators of july temperature: a validation attempt at century-scale with meteorological data from northern Sweden. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 189:147–160
Birks HH, Battarbee RW, Birks HJB (2000) The development of the aquatic ecosystem at Krakenes Lake, western Norway, during the late-glacial and early-Holocene—a synthesis. J Paleolimnol 23:91–114
Bradbury JP, Waddington JCB (1973) The impact of European settlement on Shagawa Lake, Northeastern Minnesota, U.S.A. In: Birks HJB, West RG (eds) Quaternary plant ecology: the 14th symposium of The British Ecological Society University of Cambridge, 28–30 March 1972. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, 326 pp
Bruulsema T, Barry D, Attema C, Semeniuk B, Myslik J, Worte C, Lewchuk S (2004) Nutrient use in Ontario crop production and its impacts on water quality. Ontario Farm Environment Coalition – Water Quality Technical Group, Potash and Phosphate Institute of Canada, 7 pp
Burden ET, McAndrews JH, Norris G (1986) Palynology of Indian and European forest clearance and farming in lake sediment cores from Awenda Provincial Park, Ontario. Can J Earth Sci 23:43–54
Campbell ID, McAndrews JH (1993) Forest disequilibrium caused by rapid little ice age cooling. Nature 366:336–338
Campbell ID, Last WM, Campbell C, Clare S, McAndrews JH (2000) The late holocene paleohydrology of Pine Lake, Alberta: a multiproxy investigation. J Paleolimnol 24:427–441
Canniff W (1869) History of the settlement of upper Canada, (Ontario) with special reference to The Bay of Quinte. Dudley and Burns, Printers, Victoria Hall, Toronto, 666 pp
Connell JH (1978) Diversity in tropical rainforests and coral reefs. Science 199:1302–1310
Dixit SS, Dixit AS, Smol JP (2002) Diatom and chrysophyte transfer functions and inferences of post-industrial acidification and recent recovery trends in Killarney Lakes (Ontario, Canada). J Paleolimnol 27:79–96
DMTI Spatial Inc. (2003) Esri data and maps. Canada water bodies. Redlands, California
Ekdahl EJ, Teranes JL, Guilderson TP, Turton CL, McAndrews JH, Wittkop CA, Stoermer EF (2004) Prehistorical record of cultural eutrophication from Crawford Lake, Canada. Geology 32:745–748
Ekdahl EJ, Teranes JL, Wittkop CA, Stoermer EF, Reavie ED, Smol JP (2007) Diatom assemblage response to Iroquoian and Euro-Canadian eutrophication of Crawford Lake, Ontario, Canada. J Paleolimnol 37:233–246
Environment Canada (2005a) http://www.climate.weatheroffice.ec.gc.ca/climateData/monthlydata_e.html?timeframe=3&Prov=XX&StationID=5052&Year=1897&Month=1&Day=1 (January 11, 2005)
Environment Canada (2005b) http://www.climate.weatheroffice.ec.gc.ca/climateData/monthlydata_e.html?timeframe=3&Prov=XX&StationID=5016&Year=1960&Month=1&Day=1 (January 18, 2005)
Environment Canada (2005c) http://www.climate.weatheroffice.ec.gc.ca/climateData/dailydata_e.html?timeframe=2&Prov=XX&StationID=5016&Year=1995&Month=6&Day=1 (May 12, 2005)
Faegri K, Iversen J (1964) Textbook of pollen analysis, 2nd edn. Munksgaard, Copengagen, 261 pp
Finsinger W, Bigler C, Krähenbühl U, Lotter AF, Ammann B (2006) Human impacts and eutrophication patterns during the past ∼200 years at Lago Grande di Avigliana (N. Italy). J Paleolimnol 36:55–67
Fluteau F (2003) Earth dynamics and climate changes. Geoscience 335:157–174
Francis DR, Foster DR (2001) Response of small New England ponds to historic land use. The Holocene 11:301–312
Garrison PJ, Wakeman RS (2000) Use of paleolimnology to document the effect of lake shoreland development on water quality. J Paleolimnol 24:369–393
Gentilcore RL, Wood D (1978) A military colony in a wilderness: the upper Canada frontier. In: Wood JD (ed) Perspectives on landscape and settlement in nineteenth century Ontario. The MacMillan Company of Canada Ltd., Toronto, pp 32–42
Gerber RE, Howard K (2002) Hydrogeology of the Oak Ridges Moraine aquifer system: implications for protection and management from the Duffins Creek watershed. Can J Earth Sci 39:1333–1348
Government of Ontario (2004) More facts about the Oak Ridges Moraine. http://www.mah.gov.on.ca/userfiles/HTML/nts_1_3631_1.html (February 16, 2005)
Groombridge B, Jenkins MD (2002) World atlas of biodiversity: earth’s living resource in the 21st century. University of California Press, Berkeley, 328 pp
Hall RI, Smol JP (1996) Paleolimnological assessment of long-term water-quality changes in south-central Ontario lakes affected by cottage development and acidification. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 53:1–17
Hall RI, Smol JP (1999) Diatoms as indicators of lake eutrophication. In: Stoermer EF, Smol JP (eds) The diatoms: applications for the environmental and earth sciences. Cambridge University Press, UK, pp 128–168
Hamilton PB, Jackson GS, Kaushik NK, Solomon KR, Stephenson GL (1988) The impact of two applications of atrazine on the plankton communities of in situ enclosures. Aquat Toxicol (Amst) 13:123–140
Hill AR (1976) The effects of man-induced erosion and sedimentation on the soils of a portion of the Oak Ridges Moraine. Can Geogr 20:384–404
Hipwell SE, Prevost CE, Ferguson JA (1995) Chemical and physical characteristics of 44 lakes and ponds from Southcentral and Southeastern Ontario. Geological Survey of Canada Open File 3403
Hoffman DW, Richards NR (1955) Soil survey of York County. Report number 19 of the Ontario soil survey, experimental farms service, Canadian Department of Agriculture and the Ontario Agricultural College, 104 pp, http://sis.agr.gc.ca/cansis/publications/on/on19/intro.html (November 10, 2005)
Interlandi SJ, Crockett CS (2003) Recent water quality trends in the Schuylkill River, Pennsylvania, USA: a preliminary assessment of the relative influences of climate, river discharge and suburban development. Water Res 37:1737–1748
Juggins S (2005) C2 version 1.4: software for ecological and paleoecological data analysis and visualization. http://www.campus.ncl.ac.uk/staff/Stephen.Juggins/software/C2Home.htm (March 2, 2005)
Karrow PF (1989) Quaternary geology of the Great Lakes subregion. In: Fulton RJ (ed) Quaternary geology of Canada and Greenland. Geological Survey of Canada, Geology of Canada, No.1, pp 326–350
Kelly K (1978) The impact of nineteenth century agricultural settlement on the land. In: Wood JD (ed) Perspectives on landscape and settlement in nineteenth century Ontario. The MacMillan Company of Canada Ltd., Toronto, pp 67–69
Köster D, Racca JMJ, Pienitz R (2004) Diatom-based inference models and reconstructions revisited: methods and transformations. J Paleolimnol 32:233–246
Krammer K (1997a) Die cymbelloiden Diatomeen, Eine Monographie der weltweit bekannten Taxa. Teil 1. Allgemeines und Encyonema part. Biblio Diatomol 36:1–382
Krammer K (1997b) Die cymbelloiden Diatomeen, Eine Monographie der weltweit bekannten Taxa. Teil 2. Encyonema part., Encyonopsis and Cymbellopsis. Biblio Diatomol 37:1–469
Krammer K (2002) Cymbella. In: Lange-Bertalot H (ed) Diatoms of Europe. Diatoms of the European inland waters and comparable habitats, vol 3. A.R.G. Gantner Verlag K.G., Ruggell, pp 1–584
Krammer K, Lange-Bertalot H (1986) Bacillariophyceae Süβwasserflora von Mitteleuropa, 2/1. Teil: Naviculaceae. Gustav Fischer Verlag Stuttgart, New York, 876 pp
Krammer K, Lange-Bertalot H (1988) Bacillariophyceae Süβwasserflora von Mitteleuropa, 2/2. Teil: Bacillariaceae, Epithemiaceae, Surirellaceae. Gustav Fischer Verlag Stuttgart, New York, 596 pp
Krammer K, Lange-Bertalot H (1991a) Bacillariophyceae Süβwasserflora von Mitteleuropa, 2/3. Teil: Centrales, Fragilariaceae, Eunotiaceae. Gustav Fischer Verlag Stuttgart, New York, 576 pp
Krammer K, Lange-Bertalot H (1991b) Bacillariophyceae Süβwasserflora von Mitteleuropa, 2/4. Teil: Achnanthaceae, Kritische Ergänzungen Zu Navicula (Lineolatae) und Gomphonema Gesamtliteraturverzeichnis Teil 1–4. Gustav Fischer Verlag Stuttgart, New York, 437 pp
Lange-Bertalot H (2001) Navicula sensu stricto, 10 genera separated from Navicula sensu lato, Frustulia In: Lange-Bertalot H (ed) Diatoms of Europe. Diatoms of the European inland waters and comparable habitats, vol 2. A.R.G. Gantner Verlag K.G., Ruggell, pp 1–526
Langman RC (1971) Patterns of settlement in Southern Ontario. McClelland and Stewart Limited, Toronto, 140 pp
Livingstone DM, Lotter AF (1998) The relationship between air and water temperatures in lakes of the Swiss Plateau: a case study with palaeolimnological implications. J Paleolimnol 19:181–198
Lotter AF, Birks HJB, Hofmann W, Marchetto A (1997) Modern diatom, cladocera, chiromonid, and chrysophyte cyst assemblages as quantitative indicators for the reconstruction of past environmental conditions in the Alps. I. Climate. J Paleolimnol 18:395–420
Lubchenco J (1978) Plant species diversity in a marine intertidal community: importance of herbivore food preference and algal competitive ability. Am Nat 112:23–39
McAndrews JH (1988) Human disturbance of North American forests and grasslands: the fossil pollen record. In: Huntley B, Webb T III (eds) Vegetation history. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, pp 673–697
McAndrews JH, Boyko-Diakonow M (1989) Pollen analysis of varved sediment at Crawford Lake, Ontario. Evidence for Indian and European farming. In: Fulton RJ (ed) Quaternary geology of Canada and Greenland. Geology of Canada No. 1. Geol. Surv. Can., Canada, pp 528–530
McGill University (2001) The Canadian county atlas digital project. Full record for Shaver, N. http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/CountyAtlas/showrecord.php?PersonID=55530 (August 8, 2005)
Moore MV, Pace ML, Mather JR, Murdoch PS, Howarth RW, Folt CL, Chen CY, Hemond HF, Flebbe PA, Driscoll CT (1997) Potential effects of climate change on freshwater ecosystems of the New England/Mid-Atlantic region. Hydrol Process 11:925–947
Natural Resources Canada (2002) GeoBase geopolitical boundaries – Level 1. Ottawa, Ontario
Pappas JL, Stoermer EF (1996) Quantitative methods for determining a representative algal count. J Phycol 32:693–696
Patrick R (1977) Ecology of freshwater diatoms and diatom communities. In: Werner D (ed) The biology of diatoms. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, pp 284–326
Patrick R, Reimer CW (1966) The diatoms of the United States; exclusive of Alaska and Hawaii, vol 1. The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, 669 pp
Patrick R, Reimer CW (1975) The diatoms of the United States; exclusive of Alaska and Hawaii. Vol. 2., Part 1 Entomoneidaceae, Cymbellaceae, Gomphonemaceae, Epithemiaceae. The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, 213 pp
Patterson RT, Fishbein E (1989) Re-examination of the statistical methods used to determine the number of point counts needed for micropaleontological quantitative research. J Paleontol 63:245–248
Patterson RT, Kumar A (2000) Assessment of arcellacean (thecamoebian) assemblages, species and strains as contaminant indicators in variably contaminated James Lake, northeastern Ontario. J Foraminiferal Res 30:310–320
Patterson RT, Kumar A (2002) A review of current testate rhizoid (thecamoebian) research in Canada. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 180:225–251
Patterson RT, Barker T, Burbidge SM (1996) Arcellaceans (thecamoebians) as proxies of arsenic and mercury contamination in northeastern Ontario lakes. J Foraminiferal Res 26:172–183
Patterson RT, Dalby A, Kumar A, Henderson LA, Boudreau REA (2002) Arcellaceans (thecamoebians) as indicators of land-use change: settlement history of the Swan Lake area, Ontario as a case study. J Paleolimnol 28:297–316
Potapova M, Hamilton PB (2007) Morphological and ecological variation within the Achnanthidium minutissimum (Bacillariophyceae) species complex. J Phycol 43:561–575
Reavie ED, Smol JP (2001) Diatom-environmental relationships in 64 alkaline southeastern Ontario (Canada) lakes: a diatom-based model for water quality reconstructions. J Paleolimnol 25:25–42
Reichardt E (1999) Zur Revision der Gattung Gomphonema Die Arten um G. affine/insigne, G. angustatum/micropus, G. acuminatum sowie gomphonemoide Diatomeen aus dem Oberoligozän in Böhmen. Iconogr Diatomol 8:1–130
Reynolds CS (1984) The ecology of freshwater phytoplankton. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 185–186
Riley JL, Mohr P (1994) The natural heritage of southern Ontario’s settled landscapes: a review of conservation and restoration ecology for land-use and landscape planning. Ontario Min. Nat Res Aurora, 1–77
Rippey B, Anderson NJ, Foy RH (1997) Accuracy of diatom-inferred total phosphorus concentrations and the accelerated eutrophication of a lake due to reduced flushing and increased internal loading. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 54:2637–2646
Robinson J, Schwartz H (1999) Economic and social problems of rapid urban growth: the case of Toronto Nordic association for canadian studies rediscovering Canada 6th International Canadian Studies Conference University of Iceland Reykjavik Iceland August 5–8, 1999 http://dept.econ.yorku.ca/robinson/iceland.htm (December 10, 2005)
Sanderson EW, Jaiteh M, Levy MA, Redford KH, Wannebo AV, Woolmer G (2002) The human footprint and the last of the wild. Bioscience 52:891–904
Sharpe D, Pugin A, Pullan S, Shaw J (2004) Regional unconformities and the sedimentary architecture of the Oak Ridges Moraine area, southern Ontario. Can J Earth Sci 41:183–198
Shea K, Roxburgh H, Rauschert SJ (2004) Moving from pattern to process: coexistence mechanisms under intermediate disturbance regimes. Ecol Lett 7:491–508
Siver PA, Ahrens TD, Hamilton PB, Satachura-Suchoples K, Kociolek JP (2004) The ecology of diatoms in ponds and lakes on the Cape Cod peninsula, Massachusetts, U.S.A., with special reference to pH. In: Poulin M (ed) Seventeenth international diatom symposium. Biopress, Bristol, pp 335–357
Smol JP (1981) Problems associated with the use of “species diversity” in paleolimnological studies. Quat Res 15:209–212
Solomon KR, Kaushik NK, Herman D, Stephenson GL, Hamilton P, Day KE, Jackson G (1992) Use of enclosures for assessing the effects of pesticides in freshwater ecosystems. In: Wong CS, Harrison PJ (eds) Marine ecosystem, enclosed experiments, proceedings of the symposium held in Beijing, 9–14 May 1987. International Development Research Center publication, Ottawa, pp 87–105
Sousa WP (1979) Disturbance in marine intertidal boulder fields: the nonequilibrium maintenance of species diversity. Ecology 60:1225–1239
Statistics Canada (2001) Province of Ontario data spatial files. Statistical Reference Centre (National Capital Region), Ottawa
Statistics Canada (2005) Population of census metropolitan areas (2001 Census boundaries). http://www40.statcan.ca/l01/cst01/demo05a.htm (November 10, 2005)
Tarling DH (1997) The plate tectonic impact on climatic change with particular relevance to mesoamerica. Quat Int 43:61–66
Tong STY, Chen W (2002) Modeling the relationship between land use and surface water quality. J Environ Manage 66:377–393
Torigai K, Schröder-Adams CJ, Burbidge SM (2000) A variable lacustrine environment in Lake Winnipeg, Manitoba: evidence from modern thecamoebian distribution. J Paleolimnol 23:305–318
USDA-NCRS (2001) National resources inventory: highlights. United States Department of Agriculture, 3 pp, http://www.nhq.nrcs.usda.gov/NRI (December 10, 2006)
Ward JH (1963) Hierarchical grouping to optimize an objective function. J Am Stat Assoc 58:236–244
Weckström J, Korhola A, Blom T (1997) Diatoms as quantitative indicators of pH and water temperature in subarctic Fennoscandian lakes. Hydrobologia 347:171–184
Wissmar RC (1982) Limnological features of lakes within the 18 may 1980 Mount St. Helens blast zone In: Keller SAC (ed) Mount St. Helens: one year later. Eastern Washington University Press, pp 119–123
Woodward CA, Shulmeister J (2006) New Zealand chironomids as proxies for human-induced and natural environmental change: transfer functions for temperature and lake production (chlorophyll a). J Paleolimnol 36:407–429
Valero-Garcés BL, González-Sampériz P, Navas A, Machín J, Mata P, Delgado-Huertas A, Bao R, Moreno A, Carrión JS, Schwalb A, González-Barrios A (2006) Human impact since medieval times and recent ecological restoration in a Mediterranean lake: the Laguna Zoñar, southern Spain. J Paleolimnol 35:441–465
Zar JH (1974) Biostatistical analysis. Prentice-Hall Inc., NJ, 580 pp
Acknowledgements
This study was funded by an NSERC Discovery Grant awarded to Dr. R. T. Patterson, by two RAC grants awarded to P. B. Hamilton (2005–2006) from the Canadian Museum of Nature, and research funding supplied to Dr. T. Anderson from the Geological Survey of Canada (NR Can). We gratefully acknowledge Dr. Dörte Köster and one anonymous reviewer for comments that greatly improved the manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Watchorn, M.A., Hamilton, P.B., Anderson, T.W. et al. Diatoms and pollen as indicators of water quality and land-use change: a case study from the Oak Ridges Moraine, Southern Ontario, Canada. J Paleolimnol 39, 491–509 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-007-9126-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-007-9126-x