Ecology of<scp>A</scp>rctic Lakes and Ponds

Christoffersen, Kirsten; Rautio, Milla; Lauridsen, Torben L.

doi:10.1002/9781118846582.ch7

Cited by 5 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 84 publications

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“…The identified species belonged mainly to three groups: Copepoda (six species), Cladocera (11 species), and Rotifera (56 species). These numbers suggest that the crustacean zooplankton species richness on southern Victoria Island was low, in line with previous studies conducted on Arctic islands where five and seven Cladocera were reported (Jeppesen et al, 2021;Rautio et al, 2008), and a total of 82 species were identified (Frolova et al, 2018). In comparison, crustacean species richness is known to be an order of magnitude higher elsewhere in ponds and lakes at the same latitude (69° N), e.g.…”

Section: Zooplankton Species Richness and Diversity On Southern Victo...supporting

confidence: 89%

“…In comparison, crustacean species richness is known to be an order of magnitude higher elsewhere in ponds and lakes at the same latitude (69° N), e.g. Alaska and northern Scandinavia (Rautio et al, 2008), which has been attributed to more accessible dispersal routes and milder climates that allow macrophytes to be present (Jeppesen et al, 2021). Higher order aquatic plants are largely absent in waterbodies on Victoria Island, which implies that these waterbodies have reduced habitat diversity for zooplankton.…”

Section: Zooplankton Species Richness and Diversity On Southern Victo...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The shallowest of these waterbodies range from highly productive thermokarst ponds, stimulated by the nutrient and carbon releases from the thawing permafrost (Breton et al, 2009; Wauthy et al, 2018), to oligotrophic ponds and lakes on rocky or frozen terrains that have low external nutrient input and high‐water clarity (Vincent et al, 2008; Wauthy et al, 2018). All these waterbodies exhibit relatively low biodiversity and simple food webs (Keva et al, 2021; Schartau et al, 2021; Wauthy & Rautio, 2020), and many are stratified only for a brief period, or not at all, in summer due to the prevailing cold temperatures and wind related mixing (Jeppesen et al, 2021; Rautio et al, 2011). These characteristics, and the close coupling of these waterbodies with atmospheric and cryosphere systems (Prowse et al, 2006), make them particularly sensitive to the climatic and environmental pressures that have driven the notable warming seen in the Arctic region since the 1980s (Begin et al, 2017; NOAA, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Given the ubiquity and trophic importance of zooplankton, our aim was to address the following questions: (1) is hydrological connectivity in Arctic ponds and lakes associated with patterns in the structure of zooplankton communities; (2) are limnological and environmental variables (such as phytoplankton biomass, nutrients, and water body size) associated with patterns in zooplankton abundance, richness, size, and diversity and do these associations differ between isolated and connected water bodies; and (3) are different levels of hydrological connectivity related to zooplankton production? Specifically, we predicted that given the phenomenon of the decay of community similarity with geographical distance (Soininen et al, 2007) that: (H1) differences in zooplankton community structure would increase as the distance between the lakes increases in connected lake chains; (H2) zooplankton communities would be richer and more diverse in connected than in isolated water bodies due to their larger water volume that provides access to a greater range of habitats: and (H3) since shallow isolated waterbodies often lack fish (Jeppesen et al, 2017) and hence top‐down control from predators, zooplankton in ponds would be dominated by large‐sized zooplankton that could not co‐exist with planktivorous fish (Jeppesen et al, 2021). Furthermore, as production and biomass are often positively correlated in a range of ecosystem types (Brey, 1990; Canfield & Jones, 1996; Cusson & Bourget, 2005; Rautio et al, 2011), we also hypothesised that (H4) zooplankton production would be higher in waterbodies with a high biomass.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Integrating hydrological connectivity and zooplankton composition in Arctic ponds and lakes

Blackburn‐Desbiens,

Grosbois,

Power

et al. 2023

Freshwater Biology

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Arctic landscapes are characterised by their numerous ponds and lakes. With increased climate warming and consequent changes in hydrological connectivity, the ecology of many of these waterbodies is expected to change. We sampled 13 ponds and 22 lakes for zooplankton and various limnological and physical environmental variables in the vicinity of Cambridge Bay, Nunavut (69.1169° N, 105.0597° W), with the aim of testing how well the degree of hydrological connectivity explained patterns in species composition and abundance and contributed to crustacean production. Ponds were hydrologically isolated while the lakes were arranged in four lake chains and ranged from the headwaters to highly inter‐connected lakes receiving water from one to 768 upstream lakes. In all sites combined, 77 zooplankton species were found, including 56 rotifers, six copepods, 11 cladocerans, two fairy shrimp species, a mysid, and a tadpole shrimp. We show that the zooplankton communities differed between hydrologically isolated (ponds) and connected (lakes) systems, with 17 species unique to ponds and 20 to lakes. Furthermore, the communities were more similar within lake chains and hence in lakes closer to each other. In ponds, distances between waterbodies had no impact on community similarity. Zooplankton abundance was higher in lakes (255 ind/L) than in ponds (65 ind/L) due to the higher number of rotifers that accounted for nearly 80% of the zooplankton abundance in lakes. In ponds, rotifers, cladocerans, and copepods were equally abundant. In terms of biomass, cladocerans represented 65% of total biomass in all waterbodies except for a chain of deep lakes that had abundant fish communities. In these lakes, cladoceran abundance and biomass were low and probably limited by fish predation. Zooplankton production was higher in ponds (4.6 mgC m−3 day−1) than in lakes (1.7 mgC m−3 day−1), and within lakes was lowest in the chain composed of large lakes (1.3 mgC m−3 day−1). The high production in ponds was closely linked to high zooplankton biomass and further explained by high gross primary production supported by relatively high nutrient concentrations in these shallow systems. Our study emphasises that hydrological connectivity is key to shaping zooplankton communities, although fish presence also appears to affect them. It shows that isolated ponds (that currently account for c83% of all waterbodies on southern Victoria Island) are hotspots of aquatic biological productivity that probably play an essential role in Arctic freshwater landscapes. Finally, our study provides critical baseline information on the current composition of Arctic zooplankton communities important for estimating climate change impacts.

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Section: Zooplankton Species Richness and Diversity On Southern Victo...supporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Zooplankton Species Richness and Diversity On Southern Victo...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Integrating hydrological connectivity and zooplankton composition in Arctic ponds and lakes

Blackburn‐Desbiens,

Grosbois,

Power

et al. 2023

Freshwater Biology

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“…Primary producers, including phytoplankton, form the base of the food web in most lake ecosystems. Therefore, detailed knowledge of their responses to a warming climate is essential to understand the effects of warming for the entire food web (Jeppesen et al., 2021). Despite their ecological importance, long‐term and detailed monitoring of biota in Arctic lakes is rare and phytoplankton dynamics remain poorly understood, especially in the High Arctic (Lento, Goedkoop, Christoffersen, et al., 2019; Lento, Goedkoop, Culp, et al., 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long‐term phytoplankton dynamics in two High Arctic lakes (north‐east Greenland)

Moedt,

Olrik,

Schmidt

et al. 2024

Freshwater Biology

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Primary producers form the base of lake ecosystems and, due to their often short lifecycles, respond rapidly to changing conditions. As the Arctic is warming nearly four times faster than the global average, we see major shifts in environmental conditions, which impacts lake ecosystem functioning. Previous studies have found a general increase in primary productivity due to climate warming. However, few long‐term studies have included changes in phytoplankton community composition and biomass in relation to warming in Arctic lakes and it therefore remains unclear how different algal taxa and thus the community respond. We investigated how climate warming affects phytoplankton community composition, taxon richness and biomass in High Arctic lakes, using a unique 23‐year data series on phytoplankton in two shallow lakes at Zackenberg, north‐east Greenland, one with Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus) and one without fish. We further elucidated the role of physico‐chemical variables and zooplankton grazers in the changes observed. Few major changes were observed in phytoplankton community composition over time, but the year‐to‐year variation was large. Taxon richness did, however, increase throughout the monitoring period, and in both lakes there was a significant increase in diatom biomass coinciding with increasing conductivity. Additionally, phytoplankton biomass was greater during warmer years with earlier ice melt. We further found that nutrient levels were positively associated with the total phytoplankton biomass in both lakes, indicating that expected increased nutrient levels, due to climate change, may lead to a greater phytoplankton biomass in High Arctic lakes in the future. The large year‐to‐year variability, in both climate and environmental conditions, makes it difficult to predict weather patterns and their consequences for lake ecosystems in the Arctic region. This underlines the importance of long‐term monitoring programmes across the circumpolar Arctic and collaboration across regions and institutes within large scale studies.

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Monitoring and classification of high Arctic lakes in the Svalbard Islands using remote sensing

Urbański

2022

International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinfor

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Ecology ofArctic Lakes and Ponds

Cited by 5 publications

References 84 publications

Integrating hydrological connectivity and zooplankton composition in Arctic ponds and lakes

Integrating hydrological connectivity and zooplankton composition in Arctic ponds and lakes

Long‐term phytoplankton dynamics in two High Arctic lakes (north‐east Greenland)

Monitoring and classification of high Arctic lakes in the Svalbard Islands using remote sensing

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