Algal responses to metal(loid) pollution, urbanization, and climatic changes in subarctic lakes around Yellowknife, Canada
The lakes around Yellowknife (Northwest Territories, Canada) have been impacted by multiple environmental stressors throughout the 20th and early 21st centuries. Here, we have synthesized diatom assemblage data from ten lake sediment cores from the Yellowknife area and used a landscape-scale paleoli...
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Canadian Science Publishing
2022
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:13c666b0a7ce436bb73c6a0dc7dd4216 2023-05-15T14:23:51+02:00 Algal responses to metal(loid) pollution, urbanization, and climatic changes in subarctic lakes around Yellowknife, Canada Branaavan Sivarajah Jennifer B. Korosi Joshua R. Thienpont Linda E. Kimpe Jules M. Blais John P. Smol 2022-12-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1139/as-2021-0052 https://doaj.org/article/13c666b0a7ce436bb73c6a0dc7dd4216 EN FR eng fre Canadian Science Publishing https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/10.1139/as-2021-0052 https://doaj.org/toc/2368-7460 doi:10.1139/as-2021-0052 2368-7460 https://doaj.org/article/13c666b0a7ce436bb73c6a0dc7dd4216 Arctic Science, Vol 8, Iss 4, Pp 1340-1355 (2022) diatoms gold mining multiple stressor legacies Northwest Territories paleolimnology diatomées Environmental sciences GE1-350 Environmental engineering TA170-171 article 2022 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1139/as-2021-0052 2022-12-30T19:37:42Z The lakes around Yellowknife (Northwest Territories, Canada) have been impacted by multiple environmental stressors throughout the 20th and early 21st centuries. Here, we have synthesized diatom assemblage data from ten lake sediment cores from the Yellowknife area and used a landscape-scale paleolimnological approach to investigate the cumulative impacts of past gold mining activities, urbanization, and climate warming on aquatic biota. Our investigations indicated that diatom species turnover (measured using detrended canonical correspondence analysis) was highest at lakes closer to the city and mines, as these sites were more severely impacted by land-use changes (e.g., sewage disposal, run-off from waste disposal sites) and roaster stack emission from the gold mines. Diatom assemblage shifts indicative of climate-induced changes to lake thermal properties were also observed across the gradient of human activities. The inclusion of remote sites was useful to disentangle the effects of climate-mediated changes from impacts related to mining and urbanization. This investigation suggests that the diatom assemblages of the lakes around Yellowknife have changed markedly over the last ∼80 years and there are no signs of biological recovery since the cessation of mining activities around the turn of the 21st century. The biota of the subarctic lakes around Yellowknife are now strongly influenced by climate-mediated changes to lake thermal properties and the urban lakes are also influenced by the legacies of past land-use changes. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Northwest Territories Subarctic Yellowknife Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Northwest Territories Yellowknife Canada Arctic Science |
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Open Polar |
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ftdoajarticles |
language |
English French |
topic |
diatoms gold mining multiple stressor legacies Northwest Territories paleolimnology diatomées Environmental sciences GE1-350 Environmental engineering TA170-171 |
spellingShingle |
diatoms gold mining multiple stressor legacies Northwest Territories paleolimnology diatomées Environmental sciences GE1-350 Environmental engineering TA170-171 Branaavan Sivarajah Jennifer B. Korosi Joshua R. Thienpont Linda E. Kimpe Jules M. Blais John P. Smol Algal responses to metal(loid) pollution, urbanization, and climatic changes in subarctic lakes around Yellowknife, Canada |
topic_facet |
diatoms gold mining multiple stressor legacies Northwest Territories paleolimnology diatomées Environmental sciences GE1-350 Environmental engineering TA170-171 |
description |
The lakes around Yellowknife (Northwest Territories, Canada) have been impacted by multiple environmental stressors throughout the 20th and early 21st centuries. Here, we have synthesized diatom assemblage data from ten lake sediment cores from the Yellowknife area and used a landscape-scale paleolimnological approach to investigate the cumulative impacts of past gold mining activities, urbanization, and climate warming on aquatic biota. Our investigations indicated that diatom species turnover (measured using detrended canonical correspondence analysis) was highest at lakes closer to the city and mines, as these sites were more severely impacted by land-use changes (e.g., sewage disposal, run-off from waste disposal sites) and roaster stack emission from the gold mines. Diatom assemblage shifts indicative of climate-induced changes to lake thermal properties were also observed across the gradient of human activities. The inclusion of remote sites was useful to disentangle the effects of climate-mediated changes from impacts related to mining and urbanization. This investigation suggests that the diatom assemblages of the lakes around Yellowknife have changed markedly over the last ∼80 years and there are no signs of biological recovery since the cessation of mining activities around the turn of the 21st century. The biota of the subarctic lakes around Yellowknife are now strongly influenced by climate-mediated changes to lake thermal properties and the urban lakes are also influenced by the legacies of past land-use changes. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Branaavan Sivarajah Jennifer B. Korosi Joshua R. Thienpont Linda E. Kimpe Jules M. Blais John P. Smol |
author_facet |
Branaavan Sivarajah Jennifer B. Korosi Joshua R. Thienpont Linda E. Kimpe Jules M. Blais John P. Smol |
author_sort |
Branaavan Sivarajah |
title |
Algal responses to metal(loid) pollution, urbanization, and climatic changes in subarctic lakes around Yellowknife, Canada |
title_short |
Algal responses to metal(loid) pollution, urbanization, and climatic changes in subarctic lakes around Yellowknife, Canada |
title_full |
Algal responses to metal(loid) pollution, urbanization, and climatic changes in subarctic lakes around Yellowknife, Canada |
title_fullStr |
Algal responses to metal(loid) pollution, urbanization, and climatic changes in subarctic lakes around Yellowknife, Canada |
title_full_unstemmed |
Algal responses to metal(loid) pollution, urbanization, and climatic changes in subarctic lakes around Yellowknife, Canada |
title_sort |
algal responses to metal(loid) pollution, urbanization, and climatic changes in subarctic lakes around yellowknife, canada |
publisher |
Canadian Science Publishing |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1139/as-2021-0052 https://doaj.org/article/13c666b0a7ce436bb73c6a0dc7dd4216 |
geographic |
Northwest Territories Yellowknife Canada |
geographic_facet |
Northwest Territories Yellowknife Canada |
genre |
Arctic Northwest Territories Subarctic Yellowknife |
genre_facet |
Arctic Northwest Territories Subarctic Yellowknife |
op_source |
Arctic Science, Vol 8, Iss 4, Pp 1340-1355 (2022) |
op_relation |
https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/10.1139/as-2021-0052 https://doaj.org/toc/2368-7460 doi:10.1139/as-2021-0052 2368-7460 https://doaj.org/article/13c666b0a7ce436bb73c6a0dc7dd4216 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1139/as-2021-0052 |
container_title |
Arctic Science |
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1766296321971453952 |