Characterizing current and past hydroecological conditions in shallow tundra ponds of the Hudson Bay Lowlands

• Main Author: White, Jerry/Edward
• Format: Master Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: University of Waterloo 2011
• Subjects: Hudson Bay Lowlands; paleolimnology; Biology; Hudson; Hudson Bay; Two Ponds; Tundra
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10012/6443

Due to accelerated climatic warming during the past fifty years, interest and concerns have been growing about changes in the ecological integrity of shallow freshwater ponds that dominate the landscape of the Hudson Bay Lowlands (HBL). Climatic warming is altering the hydrological processes that influence the water balances in these ponds, but knowledge remains insufficient to determine the effects these changes have on ecological conditions in the ponds. To address this knowledge gap, this study examines the relations between current hydrological and limnological conditions and recently deposited sedimentary assemblages of diatoms and photosynthetic pigments in 23 shallow ponds in the HBL. The knowledge from the contemporary studies will be used to inform paleolimnological reconstructions using multiple proxies at two ponds to assess how hydroecological conditions have changed during the past several centuries in response to climatic variations. Water samples were collected three times in 2010 to explore the relations between current hydrological and limnological conditions. The climatic conditions in 2010 provided an excellent opportunity to assess the effects that continued climate warming may exert on hydrolimnological conditions in the study ponds as the warm, dry conditions during the early thaw-season (May- mid-July) followed by extremely wet conditions for the remainder of the thaw-season are likely representative of future climate scenarios. The analysis revealed that the water chemistry in the ponds evolved along one of four different ‘trajectories’ throughout the thaw-season in 2010. These seasonal patterns of limnological conditions closely aligned with similar patterns identified in a study of contemporary hydrological conditions (Light, 2011; Wolfe et al., 2011). The patterns identified in both the hydrological and limnological studies were attributed to differences among ponds in catchment characteristics and hydrological connectivity with adjacent basins. Surface sediment samples were collected ...