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Seasonal diatom community responses to development and climate change in Lake George, an oligotrophic lake in the Adirondack Mountains

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Abstract

Lake George is a highly monitored, oligotrophic lake that experiences widespread tourism in the summer months. The southern basin has more shoreline development than the northern basin, resulting in a south to north gradient of anthropogenic impairment. This study aimed to assess differences in nearshore diatom communities regarding gradients of water chemistry and watershed development throughout the lake. Using redundancy analyses, water chemistry explained more variation within diatom assemblages than watershed variables. Seasonal comparisons of watershed types, based on development, revealed SPC values to be significantly higher in the southern basin in all three seasons (spring, summer, and autumn). Among the three seasons, summer demonstrated the best potential for further monitoring of diatom communities with the north and south basins demonstrating differences in Shannon–Weiner (H′) diversity index values and proportions of Asterionella formosa, Fragilaria crotonensis, and Lindavia lemanensis. Dominant diatoms from previous studies in the lake were compared to present populations and showed a concomitant reduction in Stephanodicus spp. and Melosira spp. while smaller centric species continue to increase. Given the differences between the two basins, climate change is likely to manifest differently in the southern, more productive basin than the northern basin.

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Data availability

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available due private ownership of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and IBM, but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Jefferson Project at Lake George, which is a collaboration between Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, IBM, and The FUND for Lake George.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, John Carroll University, University Heights, OH, 44118, USA

    Adam T. Ruka & Jeffrey R. Johansen

  2. Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Branišovská 31, Ceske Budejovice, 370 05, Czech Republic

    Jeffrey R. Johansen & Jan Leps

  3. School of Renewable Natural Resources, Louisiana State University AgCenter, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA

    Zachary J. Loken

  4. Department of Biological Sciences, Darrin Fresh Water Institute, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, 12180, USA

    Matt Schuler, Brian Mattes, Erika Yates & Rick A. Relyea

  5. Department of Biology, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ, 07043, USA

    Matt Schuler

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Ruka, A.T., Johansen, J.R., Leps, J. et al. Seasonal diatom community responses to development and climate change in Lake George, an oligotrophic lake in the Adirondack Mountains. Hydrobiologia 849, 2761–2780 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-022-04892-y

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