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Reconstruction of historical productivity using visible-near-infrared (VNIR) reflectance properties from boreal and saline lake sediments

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Abstract

Chlorophylls preserved in lake sediments have been used as a proxy to infer past trophic status. Recently, it has been demonstrated that visible-near-infrared (VNIR) reflectance spectroscopy can provide a rapid and non-destructive estimation of fossil chlorophylls from alpine lake sediments. The present study explores, (a) the applicability of VNIR reflectance spectroscopy to reconstructing historical productivity from boreal and saline lakes, and (b) the ability of an inference model combining all lake types to reconstruct historical chlorophyll concentrations from lake sediments. Results revealed that regardless of the lake type, a common sediment spectral feature of a reflectance trough centered near 675 nm, was observed. Additionally, the amplitude of reflectance in the VNIR region differs within and among lakes depending on their trophic states. The inferred concentration of total chlorophylls and derivatives from sediment spectral properties reflected a recent nutrient enrichment in most of the study lakes. Predicted chlorophyll concentration, when plotted against high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) measured concentration combining all lake types, was found to be statically significant (r 2 = 0.80, P < 0.01). Collectively, results from this study indicate that regardless of the lake type, a common chlorophyll absorption feature near 675 nm can be detected, which is associated with contrasting limnological settings and, therefore, can be used as a viable tool to reconstruct paleoproductivity. A similar approach can be implemented for rapid and non-destructive detection of historical lake water quality in a wide range of lake sediments.

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Acknowledgements

The author acknowledge AP Wolfe (Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta) for providing pigment and 210Pb data for Muriel Lake; Sofia Holmgren (Department of Earth Sciences, Göteborg University, Sweden) for the many long hours of help in the field during sediment core collection at Humboldt, Saskatchewan; David Schindler and Rina Freed (Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta) for supplying Lac La Biche sediment core, 210Pb dating records and HPLC-measured pigment concentrations; Christopher Lowe (Department of Biology, University of Victoria) for editorial correction. I thank two anonymous reviewers for their very constructive comments on earlier versions of this manuscript. This research was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (Discovery Grants to AP Wolfe, and B Rivard, University of Alberta).

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Correspondence to Biplob Das.

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Das, B. Reconstruction of historical productivity using visible-near-infrared (VNIR) reflectance properties from boreal and saline lake sediments. Aquat Ecol 41, 209–220 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10452-006-9071-1

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