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Paleolimnological reconstruction of recent changes in assemblages of Cladocera from acidified lakes in the Adirondack Mountains (New York)

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Abstract

Remains of Cladocera were examined in short sediment cores from three Adirondack lakes with mean pHs below 5 and a fourth with a mean pH of 6.5. These cores were collected as part of the Paleoecological Investigation of Recent Lake Acidification (PIRLA I) project. Historical and paleolimnological evidence suggests that pH has decreased in each of the acid lakes in recent decades. In all of the study cores, the greatest changes in net accumulation rates, assemblage composition, and species richness occurred in recently deposited sediments. The similar timing of events in all lakes suggests that a regional disturbance was responsible. In the three acid lakes, there was a strong association of changes in cladoceran assemblages and diatom, chrysophyte, and geochemical evidence of acidification. The occurrence of recent changes in non-acid Windfall Pond indicates that other factors may also have affected Cladocera in the study lakes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Freshwater Institute, 501 University Crescent, R3T 2N6, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

    Michael J. Paterson

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  1. Michael J. Paterson
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This is the fifteenth of a series of papers to be published by this journal which is a contribution of the Paleoecological Investigation of Recent Lake Acidification (PIRLA) project. Drs. D. F. Charles and D. R. Whitehead are guest editors for this series.

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Paterson, M.J. Paleolimnological reconstruction of recent changes in assemblages of Cladocera from acidified lakes in the Adirondack Mountains (New York). J Paleolimnol 11, 189–200 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00686865

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