Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Regional heterogeneity and the effects of land use and climate on 20 lakes in the big woods region of Minnesota

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

Abstract

Few studies have assessed the relative importance of landscape, land use history, climate, and regional heterogeneity on lake ecosystem processes, despite the likelihood that interactions among these factors must be important for controlling lake dynamics. We used 14 sediment measures from 20 lake cores in a climatically sensitive region of the prairie-forest border in southern Minnesota to (1) assess relationships between modern lake productivity (Carlson’s Trophic State Index [TSI]), modern land-use, catchment, and lake morphometry, and (2) contrast regional responses to climatic transitions from the ‘Medieval Climatic Anomaly’(1000–1350) to the ‘Little Ice Age’ (1350–1800) to ‘Modern’(~1980–1996 AD). TSI was significantly positively correlated with modern sedimentation rate, and accumulation rates of organic matter (OM), biogenic silica (BSi), and total phosphorus (TP). TSI was not significantly correlated with “modern” land cover, catchment, or lake morphometry characteristics, but total organic N(N) was negatively correlated with percent cultivation in the catchment area and negatively correlated with δ15N of bulk organic matter in sediment. Regional, among-lake heterogeneity was high over the past 1,000 years, but Little Ice Age (LIA) cooling appeared to result in an approximately 20% decline in OM, BSi and TP accumulation, while warming and cultural eutrophication of the past 150 years corresponded to a 200–400% increase in accumulation rates as well as an 80% increase in carbonates and a small but significant 10% drop in C/N ratios consistent with greater in-lake productivity. Our results indicate that climate does have regional effects on lake ecosystems but that among-lake variability is high, reflecting the importance of local factors and suggesting a need for (1) more explicit definition of what ‘regional’ means, (2) a focus on degree as well as direction of change, and (3) estimating accumulation rates based on multiple lakes and multiple cores within lakes.

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.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Almquist-Jacobson H, Almendinger JE, Hobbie S (1992) Influence of terrestrial vegetation on sediment-forming processes in kettle lakes of west-central Minnesota. Quat Res 38:103–116

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • American Public Health Association and American Water Works Association and Water Pollution Control Federation (1985) Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater, Washington

  • Anderson NJ, Rippey B (1994) Monitoring lake recovery from point-source eutrophication: the use of diatom-inferred epilimnetic total phosphorus and sediment chemistry. Freshw Biol 32:625–639

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baines SB, Webster KE, Kratz TK, Carpenter SR, Magnuson JJ (2000) Synchronous behavior of temperature, calcium, and chlorophyll in lakes of northern Wisconsin. Ecology 81:815–825

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Band LE, Mackay DS, Creed IF, Semkin R, Jeffries D (1996) Ecosystem processes at the watershed scale: sensitivity to potential climate change. Limnol Oceanogr 41:928–938

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blenckner T (2005) A conceptual model of climate-related effects on lake ecosystems. Hydrobiologia 533:1–14

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bradbury P, Cumming BF, Laird KR (2002) A 1500-year record of climatic and environmental change in Elk Lake, Minnesota III: measures of past primary productivity. J Paleolimnol 27:321–340

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Camill P, Umbanhowar CE, Teed R, Geiss CE, Aldinger J, Dvorak L, Kenning J, Limmer J, Walkup K (2003) Late-glacial and Holocene climatic effects on fire and vegetation dynamics at the prairie-forest ecotone in south-central Minnesota. J Ecol 91:822–836

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cardille JA, Carpenter SR, Foley JA, Hanson PC, Turner MG, Vano JA (2009) Climate change and lakes: estimating sensitivities of water and carbon budgets. J Geophys Res 114:G03011

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carlson RE (1977) A trophic state index for lakes. Limnol Oceanogr 22:361–369

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carpenter SR, Kitchell JF, Hodgson JR, Cochran PA, Elser JJ, Elser MM, Lodge DM, Kretchmer D, He X, von Ende CN (1987) Regulation of lake primary productivity by food web structure. Ecology 68:1863–1876

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carpenter SR, Caraco NF, Correll DL, Howarth RW, Sharpley AN, Smith VH (1998) Nonpoint pollution of surface waters with phosphorus and nitrogen. Ecol Appl 8:559–568

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Conley DJ, Schelske CL (2001) Biogenic silica. In: Smol JP, Birks HJB, Last WM (eds) Tracking environmental change using lake sediments: terrestrial, algal, and siliceous indicators. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, pp 281–293

    Google Scholar 

  • Cummins JF, Grigal DF (1980) Legend to map soil and land surfaces of Minnesota. Soil series 110. University of Minnesota, St Paul

    Google Scholar 

  • Dean WE (1974) Determination of carbonate and organic matter in calcareous sediments and sedimentary rocks by loss on ignition: comparison with other methods. J Sed Petrol 44:242–248

    Google Scholar 

  • Dean WE (1999) The carbon cycle and biogeochemical dynamics in lake sediments. J Paleolimnol 21:375–393

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dean WE, Gorham E (1976) Major chemical and mineral components of profundal surface sediments in Minnesota lakes. Limnol Oceanogr 21:259–284

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Engstrom DR, Wright HR Jr (1984) Chemical stratigraphy of lake sediments as a record of environmental change. In: Haworth EY, Lund JWG (eds) Lake sediments and environmental history. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis

    Google Scholar 

  • Engstrom DR, Balogh SJ, Swain EB (2007) History of mercury inputs to Minnesota lakes: influences of watershed disturbance and localized atmospheric deposition. Limnol Oceanogr 52:2467–2483

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Environmental Systems Research Inc (2006) Arcview GIS (9.2), Redlands, CA

  • Fee EJ, Shearer JA, DeBruyn ER, Schindler DW (1992) Effects of lake size on phytoplankton photosynthesis. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 49:2445–2459

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fraterrigo JM, Downing JA (2008) The influence of land use on lake nutrients varies with watershed transport capacity. Ecosystems 11:1021–1034

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Galman V, Rydberg J, Bigler C (2009) Decadal diagenetic effects on δ13C and δ15N studied in varved lake sediment. Limnol Oceanogr 54:917–924

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Geiss CE, Umbanhowar CE, Camill P, Banerjee SK (2003) Sediment magnetic properties reveal Holocene climate change along the Minnesota prairie-forest ecotone. J Paleolimnol 30:151–166

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grimm EC (1984) Fire and other factors controlling the big woods vegetation of Minnesota in the mid-nineteenth century. Ecol Monogr 54:291–311

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heiskary SA (1996) Lake sediment contaminant levels in Minnesota. Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Saint Paul

    Google Scholar 

  • Hodell DA, Schelske CL, Fahnenstiel GL, Robbins LL (1998) Biologically induced calcite and its isotopic composition in Lake Ontario. Limnol Oceanogr 43:187–199

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hurley JP, Armstrong DE, Kenoyer GJ, Bowser CJ (1985) Ground water as a silica source for diatom production in a precipitation-dominated lake. Science 227:1576–1578

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jordan P, Rippey B, Anderson NJ (2002) The 20th century whole-basin trophic history of an inter-drumlin lake in an agricultural catchment. Sci Total Environ 297:161–173

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kloiber SM, Brezonik PL, Olmanson LG, Bauer ME (2002) A procedure for regional lake water clarity assessment using Landsat multispectral data. Remote Sens Environ 82:38–47

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewis GN, Auer MT, Xiang X, Penn MR (2007) Modeling phosphorus flux in the sediments of Onondaga Lake: insights on the timing of lake response and recovery. Ecol Model 209:121–135

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liao N (2002) Deterimination of orthophosphate in waters by flow injection analysis colorimetry (Quikchem Method 10–115-01–1-M). Lachat Instruments, Milwaukee

    Google Scholar 

  • Livingstone DM (2008) A change of climate provokes a change of paradigm: taking leave of two tacit assumptions about physical lake forcing. Int Rev Hydrobiol 93:404–414

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MacKay AW (2007) The paleoclimatology of Lake Baikal: a diatom synthesis and prospectus. Earth-Sci Rev 82:181–215

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maidment DR (2002) Arc hydro: GIS for water resources. ESRI, Inc., Redlands

    Google Scholar 

  • Malmaeus JM, Blenckner T, Markensten H, Persson I (2006) Lake phosphorus dynamics and climate warming: a mechanistic model approach. Ecol Model 190:1–14

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mann ME, Zhang Z, Rutherford S, Bradley RS, Hughes MK, Shindell D, Ammann C, Faluvegi G, Ni F (2009) Global signatures and dynamical origins of the little ice age and medieval climate anomaly. Science 326:1256–1260

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martin SL, Soranno PA (2006) Lake landscape position: relationships to hydrlogic connectivity and landscape features. Limnol Oceanogr 51:801–814

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCune B, Mefford MJ (2006) Multivariate analysis of ecological data, version 5. MjM Software Design, Gleneden Beach

    Google Scholar 

  • McFadden MA, Mullins HT, Patterson WP, Anderson WT (2004) Paleoproductivity of eastern lake Ontario over the past 10, 000 years. Limnol Oceanogr 49:1570–1581

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McKnight R (2000) Deterimination of silica in waters by flow injection analysis. Lachat Instruments, Milwaukee

    Google Scholar 

  • Meyers PA (2003) Applications of organic geochemistry to paleolimnological reconstructions: a summary of examples from the Laurentian Great Lakes. Org Geochem 34:261–289

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moberg A, Sonechkin DM, Holmgren K, Datsenko NM, Karlen W, Lauritzen S-E (2005) Highly variable Northern Hemisphere temperatures reconstructed from low- and high-resolution proxy data. Nature 433:613–617

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Myrbo A, Shapley MD (2006) Seasonal water-column dynamics of dissolved inorganic carbon stable isotopic compositions (δ13CDIC) in small hardwater lakes in Minnesota and Montana. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 70:2699–2714

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Omernik JM (1987) Ecoregions of the conterminous United States. Ann Assoc Am Geogr 77:118–125

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Penn MR, Auer MT (1997) Seasonal variability in phosphorus speciation and deposition in a calcareous, eutrophic lake. Mar Geol 139:47–59

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pham SV, Leavitt PR, McGowan S, Peres-Neto P (2008) Spatial variability of climate and land-use effects on lakes of the northern Great Plains. Limnol Oceanogr 53:728–742

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • R Development Core Team (2006) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. Vienna, Austria

    Google Scholar 

  • Ramstack JM, Fritz SC, Engstrom DR (2004) Twentieth century water quality trends in Minnesota lakes compared with presettlement variability. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 61:561–576

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ryves DB, Battarbee RW, Juggins S, Fritz SC, Anderson NJ (2006) Physical and chemical predictors of diatom dissolution in freshwater and saline lake sediments in North America and West Greenland. Limnol Oceanogr 51:1355–1368

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schindler DW (2009) Lakes as sentinels and integrators for the effects of climate change on watersheds, airsheds, and landscapes. Limnol Oceanogr 54:2349–2358

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Solomon S, Qin D, Manning M, Chen Z, Marquis M, Averyt KB MT, Miller HL (2007) Climate change 2007: the physical science basis. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Sondergaard M, Windolf J, Jeppesen E (1996) Phosphorus fractions and profiles in the sediment of shallow Danish lakes as related to phosphorus load, sediment composition and lake chemistry. Water Res 30:992–1002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sondergaard M, Jensen JP, Jeppesen E (1999) Internal phosphorus loading in shallow Danish lakes. Hydrobiologia 408(409):145–152

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • St. Jacques J-M, Cumming BF, Smol JP (2008) A 900-year pollen-inferred temperature and effective moisture record from varved Lake Mina, west-central Minnesota, USA. Quat Sci Rev 27:781–796

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • St. Jacques J-M, Cumming BF, Smol JP (2009) A 900-year diatom and chrysophyte record of spring mixing and summer stratification from varved Lake Mina, west-central Minnesota, USA. The Holocene 19:537–547

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stuiver M, Reimer PJ, Reimer R (1999) CALIB radiocarbon Calibration (HTML Version 4.2). http://deptswashingtonedu\qil\calib\

  • Taranu ZE, Gregory-Eaves I (2008) Quantifying relationships among phosphorus, agriculture, and lake depth at an interegional scale. Ecosystems 11:715–725

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Umbanhowar CE (2004) Interaction of fire, climate, and vegetation change at a large landscape scale in the Big woods of Minnesota, USA. The Holocene 14:661–676

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Umbanhowar CE, Engstrom DR, Bergman EC (2003) Reconstructing eutrophication and phosphorus loading for Lake Volney, Minnesota: combining lake sediments and land-use history to establish ‘natural’ baselines for management and restoration. Lake Reservoir Manag 19:364–372

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Umbanhowar CE, Shinneman ALC, Tserenkhand G, Hammon ER, Lor P, Nail K (2009) Regional fire history based on charcoal analysis of sediments from nine lakes in western Mongolia. The Holocene 19:611–624

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Thanks for lab and field assistance to Donald Mensing-Solick, and St. Olaf students Britt Carlson, Lori Enlund, Leah Dvorak, Eric Bergman, Matt Boehm, Eric Dehn, Joel Froehle, Wade Hammer, Kristina Houser, Tara Jeffers, Laura Johnson, John McBride, Molly McGrath, Karsi Mertens and and Rebekah Van Wieren. Dan Engstrom and Mark Edlund provided many helpful comments that greatly improved this manuscript. This work was funded in part by a summer faculty research grant from St Olaf College, by a grant to St Olaf from the Howard Hughes Medical Institution, NSF DBI-0520803, and an ROA supplement to NSF DEB-0092704.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Biology and Environmental Studies, Saint Olaf College, 1520 St. Olaf Ave, Northfield, MN, 55057, USA

    Charles E. Umbanhowar Jr

  2. Environmental Studies Program and Department of Earth and Oceanographic Science, Bowdoin College, 6700 College Station, Brunswick, ME, 04011, USA

    Philip Camill

  3. Department of Geoscience, University of Iowa, 121 Trowbridge Hall, Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA

    Jeffrey A. Dorale

Authors
  1. Charles E. Umbanhowar Jr
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Philip Camill
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jeffrey A. Dorale
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Charles E. Umbanhowar Jr.

Electronic supplementary material

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Umbanhowar, C.E., Camill, P. & Dorale, J.A. Regional heterogeneity and the effects of land use and climate on 20 lakes in the big woods region of Minnesota. J Paleolimnol 45, 151–166 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-010-9486-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-010-9486-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation