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The influence of calcium decline and climate change on the cladocerans within low calcium, circumneutral lakes of the Experimental Lakes Area

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Abstract

Calcium (Ca) concentrations of many softwater lakes on the Canadian Shield have been in decline for decades as a response primarily to regional acid deposition and repeated cycles of forest harvesting. These Ca declines are of ecological interest, as many lakes have fallen to Ca levels detrimental to the fitness of ecologically important Ca-rich cladoceran taxa such as Daphnia pulex. However, distinguishing the impacts of reduced Ca from acidification (i.e., decreasing pH) on Ca-demanding fauna has proven difficult due to strong correlations between pH and Ca in softwater lakes. Here, we examine cladoceran sedimentary assemblages from low Ca lakes (mean present-day Ca < 2.0 mg l−1) in the Experimental Lakes Area (ELA) of Ontario, Canada, where Ca concentrations have declined since the 1980s, despite being closed to forestry and remote from (i.e., not downwind of) major sources of acid deposition. Differences between present-day and pre-industrial cladoceran assemblages were greatest among planktonic taxa, including Bosmina spp. and Holopedium glacialis. However, daphniid remains were present in only three of the ten study lakes with minimal directional trends. Overall, in these ELA lakes, daphniid abundance was low historically, and impacts possibly attributable to Ca declines have been obscured by the effects of regional climate warming.

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Acknowledgments

This project was funded through a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) grant to J. P. Smol. Field work was funded by a NSERC grant to Brian F. Cumming. We would also like to thank Dr. J. Kurek, as well as two journal reviewers, for their insightful comments on this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Paleoecological Environmental Assessment and Research Lab, Department of Biology, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, K7L 3N6, Canada

    Adam Jeziorski, Ian Watson, Brian F. Cumming & John P. Smol

  2. Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Dorset Environmental Science Centre, 1026 Bellwood Acres Road, Post Office Box 39, Dorset, ON, P0A 1E0, Canada

    Andrew M. Paterson

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  1. Adam Jeziorski
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Correspondence to Adam Jeziorski.

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Jeziorski, A., Paterson, A.M., Watson, I. et al. The influence of calcium decline and climate change on the cladocerans within low calcium, circumneutral lakes of the Experimental Lakes Area. Hydrobiologia 722, 129–142 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-013-1691-6

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