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Diatom floristic change and lake paleoproduction as evidence of recent eutrophication in shallow lakes of the midwestern USA

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Abstract

Intensive agricultural practices can dramatically change the landscape, thereby increasing the concentrations and rates at which nutrients are delivered to aquatic ecosystems. In the United States, concerns about accelerating rates of lake eutrophication related to increases in nutrient loading require a method of quantifying ecological changes that have occurred since European settlement. Because the application of traditional quantitative total phosphorus transfer functions in paleolimnology has proven difficult in shallow, hypereutrophic lakes, we used several approaches in this study to assess ecosystem changes associated with eutrophication of 32 natural lakes in the state of Iowa, USA. In addition to traditional transfer function methods, we estimated changes in primary productivity from the flux of biogenic silica (BSi) and organic carbon accumulation rates (OC AR). Additionally, we compared pre-disturbance diatom communities to modern diatom communities, i.e. floristic change, using non-metric multi-dimensional scaling and square chord distance. OC AR and BSi fluxes increased over time and were positively correlated with the time period of agricultural intensification in the region (post-1940). Ninety-one percent of the lakes in this study showed evidence for eutrophication based on geochemical proxies, and 88 % of lakes showed major floristic change in the diatom community. Whereas geochemical indicators showed consistent increases in productivity across most lakes, floristic changes reflected more complex interactions between other environmental drivers. The magnitude of floristic change did not directly correlate to nutrient-driven increases in primary production, but was driven by ecological diatom assembly related to lake depth. Transfer functions consistently perform poorly, especially for shallow lakes, and other techniques that combine geochemistry and diatom ecology are recommended for reconstructions of eutrophication.

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Acknowledgments

The majority of this work was supported by Iowa Department of Natural Resources grant 08-39HA-18-05. The Minnesota portion of the diatom calibration set was assembled by numerous investigators, including Mark Edlund, Euan Reavie, John Kingston, Sherilyn Fritz and Steven Heiskary. We thank the Limnological Research Center at the University of Minnesota for assistance in sediment core analysis and processing, Daniel Conley for providing the BSi estimates, and Josh McGinnis and Kelli Rae Sol for assistance in the field and laboratory. We very much appreciate thoughtful comments on an earlier draft of this manuscript provided by Steve Juggins.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, 50011, USA

    Adam J. Heathcote & John A. Downing

  2. Groupe de Recherche Interuniversitaire en Limnologie, Département des Sciences Biologiques, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, QC, H2X 1Y4, Canada

    Adam J. Heathcote

  3. St. Croix Watershed Research Station of the Science Museum of Minnesota, Marine on St. Croix, MN, 55047, USA

    Joy M. Ramstack Hobbs & Daniel R. Engstrom

  4. Depatment of Physical Geography, Loughborough University, Leicestershire, LE11 3TU, UK

    N. John Anderson

  5. Department of Geology, Lund University, Sölvegaten 12, 223-62, Lund, Sweden

    Patrick Frings

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  1. Adam J. Heathcote
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Correspondence to Adam J. Heathcote.

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Heathcote, A.J., Ramstack Hobbs, J.M., Anderson, N.J. et al. Diatom floristic change and lake paleoproduction as evidence of recent eutrophication in shallow lakes of the midwestern USA. J Paleolimnol 53, 17–34 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-014-9804-4

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