Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Diatom assemblage response to Iroquoian and Euro-Canadian eutrophication of Crawford Lake, Ontario, Canada

  • Original paper
  • Published:
Journal of Paleolimnology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Diatom and geochemical data from Crawford Lake, Ontario, have been used to document limnological responses to periods of cultural disturbance resulting from native Iroquoian occupation of the watershed (1268–1486 AD) and Euro-Canadian agriculture and deforestation (1867 AD–present). Here, we further develop the high-resolution nature of the Crawford Lake sediment record to examine the physical, chemical and biological aspects of limnological response to human disturbances in the lake catchment area with exceptional detail. We report detailed diatom abundance and flux data for individual taxa from Crawford Lake, and further describe the relationship between assemblage composition and environmental conditions using canonical correspondence analysis (CCA). Diatom assemblage data are used to calculate diatom inferred-total phosphorus (DI-TP) concentrations for the past ∼1,000 years. We also examine the diatom community response during and after periods of disturbance by Iroquoian and Euro-Canadian populations, and compare this response to existing geochemical proxies of lake production and new elemental geochemical indicators of catchment area erosion. In particular, we explore the differing limnological response to the two distinct periods of cultural eutrophication and examine the limnological processes that occurred during the period of␣low (or no) human activity (1487–1866 AD), when geochemical indicators of lake production recovered to pre-disturbance conditions, but diatom assemblages notably did not. Our results illustrate the highly susceptible nature of diatom communities to periods of anthropogenic disturbance, and emphasize that ecological indicators (such as diatom assemblages) should be included with other proxies (such as nutrient concentrations and physical characteristics) when assessing disturbance and recovery in lake systems.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Battarbee RW (1973) A new method for the estimation of absolute microfossil numbers, with reference especially to diatoms. Limnol Oceanogr 18:647–653

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Birks HJB, Line JM, Juggins S, Stevenson AC, ter Braak CJF (1990) Diatoms and pH reconstruction. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 327:263–278

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Byrne R, McAndrews JH (1975) Pre-Columbian purslane (Portulaca oleracea L.) in the new world. Nature 253:726–727

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boyko-Diakonow M (1979) The laminated sediments of Crawford Lake, southern Ontario, Canada. In: Schlüchter C (eds) Moraines and varves. A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam, pp 303–307

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell ID, Campbell C (1994) The impact of late woodland land use on the forest landscape of Southern Ontario. Great Lake Geog 1:22–29

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell ID, McAndrews JH (1993) Forest disequilibrium caused by rapid Little Ice age cooling. Nature 366:336–338

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clark JS, Royall PD (1995) Transformation of a northern hardwood forest by aboriginal (Iroquois) fire: charcoal evidence from Crawford Lake, Ontario, Canada. Holocene 5:1–9

    Google Scholar 

  • Dokulil MT, Teubner K (2005) Do phytoplankton communities correctly track trophic changes? An assessment using directly measured and paleolimnological data. Fresh Biol 50:1594–1604

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Douglas MSV, Smol JP, Savelle JM, Blais JM (2004) Prehistoric Inuit whalers affected Arctic freshwater ecosystems. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 101:1613–1617

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ekdahl EJ, Teranes JL, Guilderson TP, Wittkop CA, Turton CF, McAndrews JH, Stoermer EF (2004) A prehistorical record of cultural eutrophication from Crawford Lake, Ontario. Geology 32:745–748

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Engstrom DR, Swain EB, and Kingston JC (1985) A palaeolimnological record of human disturbance from Harvey’s Lake, Vermont: geochemistry, pigments, and diatoms. Fresh Biol 15:261–288

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Finlayson WD (1998) Iroquoian peoples of the land of rocks and water, A.D. 1000–1650: A study in settlement archaeology. London Museum of Archaeology, Ontario, Canada

    Google Scholar 

  • Garrison PJ, Fitzgerald SA (2005) The role of shoreland development and commercial cranberry farming in a lake in Wisconsin, USA. J Paleolimnol 33:169–188

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hollander DJ, Smith MA (2001) Microbially mediated carbon cycling as a control on the δ13C of sedimentary carbon in eutrophic Lake Mendota (USA): new models for interpreting isotopic excursions in the sedimentary record. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 65:4321–4337

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jeppesen E, Søndergaard M, Jensen JP, Lauridsen TL (2003) Restoration of eutrophic lakes: a global perspective. In: Kumagi M, Vincent WF (eds) Freshwater management: global versus local perspectives. Springer, Tokyo, Japan, pp 135–151

    Google Scholar 

  • Juggins S (2003) C2 user guide. Software for ecological and palaeoecological data analysis and visualisation. University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne, Britain

    Google Scholar 

  • Krammer KH, Lange-Bertalot H (1986–1991) Bacillariophycea, Süßwasserflora von Mitteleuropa, Bd. 2, Teil 1–4: Bacillariophyceae. Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart, Germany

    Google Scholar 

  • Laird KR, Fritz SC, Cumming BF, Grimm EC (1998) Early-holocene limnological and climatic variability in the Northern Great Plains. Holocene 8:275–285

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lowe R (1996) Periphyton patterns in lakes. In: Stevenson RJ, Bothwell ML, Lowe RL (eds) Algal ecology: freshwater benthic ecosystems. Academic Press, London, pp 57–76

    Google Scholar 

  • McAndrews JH, Boyko-Diakonow M (1989) Pollen analysis of varved sediment at Crawford Lake, Ontario: evidence of Indian and European farming. In: Fulton RJ (ed) Quaternary geology of Canada and Greenland. Geol Soc Am, Boulder, Colorado, USA, pp 528–530

    Google Scholar 

  • Meyers PA, Teranes JL (2001) Sediment organic matter. In: Last WM, Smol JP (eds) Tracking environmental change using lake sediments, Physical and geochemical methods, vol 2. Kluwer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, pp 239–269

    Google Scholar 

  • Miettinen JO, Simola H, Grönlund E, Lahtinen J, Niinioja R (2005) Limnological effects of growth and cessation of agricultural land use in Ladoga Karelia: sedimentary pollen and diatom analyses. J Paleolimnol 34:229–243

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ohlendorf C, Sturm M, Hausmann S (2003) Natural environmental changes and human impact reflected in sediments of a high alpine lake in Switzerland. J Paleolimnol 30:297–306

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Patrick R, Reimer C (1966) Monograph series of the academy of natural sciences of Philadelphia #13: Diatoms of the United States. Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences Press, Philadelphia, USA

    Google Scholar 

  • Ramstack JH, Fritz SC, Engstrom DR, Heiskary SA (2003) The application of a diatom-based transfer function to evaluate regional water-quality trends in Minnesota since 1970. J Paleolimnol 29:79–94

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • 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

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Renberg I, Korsman T, Birks HJB (1993) Prehistoric increases in the pH of acid-sensitive Swedish lakes caused by land-use changes. Nature 362:824–827

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rybak M, Dickman M (1988) Paleoecological reconstruction of changes in the productivity of a small, meromictic lake in southern Ontario, Canada. Hydrobiologia 169:293–306

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Smith VH (2003) Eutrophication of freshwater and coastal marine ecosystems—a global problem. Environ Sci Pollut Res Int 10:126–139

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Smol JP, Boucherle MM (1985) Postglacial changes in algal and cladoceran assemblages in Little Round Lake, Ontario. Arch Hydrobiol 103:25–49

    Google Scholar 

  • Søndergaard, M, Jensen JP, Jeppesen E (2003) Role of sediment and internal loading of phosphorus in shallow lakes. Hydrobiologia 506(509):135–145

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stoermer EF, Edlund MB, Pilskaln CH, Schelske CL (1995) Siliceous microfossil distribution in the surficial sediments of Lake Baikal. J Paleolimnol 14:69–82

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stoermer EF, Emmer G, Julius ML, Schelske CL (1996) Paleolimnologic evidence of rapid recent change in Lake Erie’s trophic status. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 53:1451–1458

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stoermer EF, Ladewski BG, Schelske CL (1978) Population responses of Lake Michigan phytoplankton to nitrogen and phosphorus enrichment. Hydrobiologia 57:249–265

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Stoermer EF, Yang JJ (1971) Contributions to the diatom flora of the Laurentian Great Lakes. I. New and little-known species of Amphora (Bacillariophyta Pennatibacillariophyceae). Phycologia 10:397–408

    Google Scholar 

  • ter Braak CJF (1986) Canonical correspondence analysis: a new eigenvector technique for multivariate direct gradient analysis. Ecology 67:1167–1179

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ter Braak CJF, Šmilauer P (1998) CANOCO Reference Manual and User’s Guide to Canoco for Windows: Software for canonical community ordination (version 4). Microcomputer Power, Ithaca New, York, 352 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Teranes JL, Bernasconi SM (2005) Factors controlling δ13C of sedimentary carbon in hypertrophic Baldeggersee, Switzerland and implications for interpreting isotope excursions in lake sedimentary records. Limnol Oceanogr 50:914–922

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Vadeboncoeur Y, Jeppesen E, Vander Zanden MJ, Christoffersen K, Lodge DM (2003) From Greenland to green lakes: cultural eutrophication and the loss of benthic pathways in lakes. Limnol Oceanogr 48:1408–1418

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Warrick G (2000) The precontact Iroquoian occupation of Southern Ontario. J World Prehist 14:415–466

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams DD, Williams NE, Cao Y (1999) Road salt contamination of groundwater in a major metropolitan area and development of a biological index to monitor its impact. Water Res 34:127–138

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wolin JA, Stoermer EF (2005) Response of a Lake Michigan coastal lake to anthropogenic catchment disturbance. J Paleolimnol 33:73–94

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Funding was provided by University of Michigan Turner Awards to E.J.E. We gratefully acknowledge Janice Papas for assistance with statistical techniques and manuscript comments, Lynn Walter and Tim Ku for assistance with water chemistry analyses and interpretation, Walt Dean for providing elemental analyses, and Norman Andresen for laboratory assistance. Two anonymous reviewers provided assistance in revising an earlier version of this manuscript.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Erik J. Ekdahl

    Present address: Department of Geosciences, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, 68588-0340, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geological Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109-1063, USA

    Erik J. Ekdahl

  2. Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093-0244, USA

    Jane L. Teranes

  3. Limnological Research Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    Chad A. Wittkop

  4. School of Natural Resources, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA

    Eugene F. Stoermer

  5. Center for Water and the Environment, Natural Resources Research Institute, University of Minnesota Duluth, Ely, MN, 55731, USA

    Euan D. Reavie

  6. Paleoecological Environmental Assessment and Research Laboratory, Department of Biology, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, K7L 3N6, Canada

    John P. Smol

Authors
  1. Erik J. Ekdahl
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jane L. Teranes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Chad A. Wittkop
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Eugene F. Stoermer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Euan D. Reavie
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. John P. Smol
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Erik J. Ekdahl.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Ekdahl, E.J., Teranes, J.L., Wittkop, C.A. et al. Diatom assemblage response to Iroquoian and Euro-Canadian eutrophication of Crawford Lake, Ontario, Canada. J Paleolimnol 37, 233–246 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-006-9016-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-006-9016-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation