Factors influencing zooplankton communities in small Arctic lakes, Northwest Territories
The Canadian Arctic has been warming at an unprecedented rate, causing significant changes to the environment. At the same time, continued development in the north has increased the demand for gravel extraction used to construct and maintain infrastructure such as highways. The development of roadwa...
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ftwlaurieruniv:oai:scholars.wlu.ca:etd-3334 2023-06-11T04:09:21+02:00 Factors influencing zooplankton communities in small Arctic lakes, Northwest Territories Vucic, Jasmina 2019-01-01T08:00:00Z application/pdf https://scholars.wlu.ca/etd/2205 https://scholars.wlu.ca/context/etd/article/3334/viewcontent/Jasmina_Vucic_Thesis___final_version_.pdf en eng Scholars Commons @ Laurier https://scholars.wlu.ca/etd/2205 https://scholars.wlu.ca/context/etd/article/3334/viewcontent/Jasmina_Vucic_Thesis___final_version_.pdf 2 Publicly accessible Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive) zooplankton climate change permafrost thaw gravel pit water chemistry Northwest Territories Integrative Biology Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology text 2019 ftwlaurieruniv 2023-05-07T16:38:41Z The Canadian Arctic has been warming at an unprecedented rate, causing significant changes to the environment. At the same time, continued development in the north has increased the demand for gravel extraction used to construct and maintain infrastructure such as highways. The development of roadways and gradual loss of permafrost in Canada’s north has led to changes in water quality, including increased calcium, conductivity, and nutrients. In addition, gravel extraction has led to the formation of artificial gravel pit lakes. Research has yet to determine how physical and chemical changes associated with development and permafrost thaw might impact zooplankton, and no studies have been conducted to examine the water quality of the region’s gravel pit lakes, or the diversity of biota living within them. To examine how water quality and invertebrate communities differed between natural and gravel pit lakes, I collected baseline water chemistry data, bathymetry, and zooplankton samples from 15 natural and 6 gravel pit lakes along the Dempster Highway between Fort McPherson and Inuvik. In comparison to natural lakes, gravel pit lakes were deeper, clearer, and significantly lower in nutrients. Despite these differences, pelagic zooplankton did not differ significantly between lake types, suggesting that gravel pit lakes offer quality habitat for local invertebrate species. To examine how zooplankton respond to water quality changes caused by permafrost thaw, I surveyed additional lakes between Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk, increasing the size of my dataset to 37 lakes. I then used my dataset to develop models used to predict how changes in water quality could affect zooplankton. My models showed that zooplankton abundance, evenness and diversity were related to conductivity, turbidity, calcium, and nutrient levels, and that water quality changes could lead to a significant increase in zooplankton abundance (1.6-3.6-fold) but decreases in evenness (1.1-1.4-fold) and diversity (1.2-1.7-fold). The magnitude of these ... Text Arctic Climate change Fort McPherson Inuvik Northwest Territories permafrost Tuktoyaktuk Zooplankton Wilfrid Laurier University, Ontario: Scholars Commons@Laurier Arctic Fort McPherson ENVELOPE(-134.826,-134.826,67.433,67.433) Inuvik ENVELOPE(-133.610,-133.610,68.341,68.341) Northwest Territories Tuktoyaktuk ENVELOPE(-133.006,-133.006,69.425,69.425) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Wilfrid Laurier University, Ontario: Scholars Commons@Laurier |
op_collection_id |
ftwlaurieruniv |
language |
English |
topic |
zooplankton climate change permafrost thaw gravel pit water chemistry Northwest Territories Integrative Biology Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology |
spellingShingle |
zooplankton climate change permafrost thaw gravel pit water chemistry Northwest Territories Integrative Biology Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology Vucic, Jasmina Factors influencing zooplankton communities in small Arctic lakes, Northwest Territories |
topic_facet |
zooplankton climate change permafrost thaw gravel pit water chemistry Northwest Territories Integrative Biology Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology |
description |
The Canadian Arctic has been warming at an unprecedented rate, causing significant changes to the environment. At the same time, continued development in the north has increased the demand for gravel extraction used to construct and maintain infrastructure such as highways. The development of roadways and gradual loss of permafrost in Canada’s north has led to changes in water quality, including increased calcium, conductivity, and nutrients. In addition, gravel extraction has led to the formation of artificial gravel pit lakes. Research has yet to determine how physical and chemical changes associated with development and permafrost thaw might impact zooplankton, and no studies have been conducted to examine the water quality of the region’s gravel pit lakes, or the diversity of biota living within them. To examine how water quality and invertebrate communities differed between natural and gravel pit lakes, I collected baseline water chemistry data, bathymetry, and zooplankton samples from 15 natural and 6 gravel pit lakes along the Dempster Highway between Fort McPherson and Inuvik. In comparison to natural lakes, gravel pit lakes were deeper, clearer, and significantly lower in nutrients. Despite these differences, pelagic zooplankton did not differ significantly between lake types, suggesting that gravel pit lakes offer quality habitat for local invertebrate species. To examine how zooplankton respond to water quality changes caused by permafrost thaw, I surveyed additional lakes between Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk, increasing the size of my dataset to 37 lakes. I then used my dataset to develop models used to predict how changes in water quality could affect zooplankton. My models showed that zooplankton abundance, evenness and diversity were related to conductivity, turbidity, calcium, and nutrient levels, and that water quality changes could lead to a significant increase in zooplankton abundance (1.6-3.6-fold) but decreases in evenness (1.1-1.4-fold) and diversity (1.2-1.7-fold). The magnitude of these ... |
format |
Text |
author |
Vucic, Jasmina |
author_facet |
Vucic, Jasmina |
author_sort |
Vucic, Jasmina |
title |
Factors influencing zooplankton communities in small Arctic lakes, Northwest Territories |
title_short |
Factors influencing zooplankton communities in small Arctic lakes, Northwest Territories |
title_full |
Factors influencing zooplankton communities in small Arctic lakes, Northwest Territories |
title_fullStr |
Factors influencing zooplankton communities in small Arctic lakes, Northwest Territories |
title_full_unstemmed |
Factors influencing zooplankton communities in small Arctic lakes, Northwest Territories |
title_sort |
factors influencing zooplankton communities in small arctic lakes, northwest territories |
publisher |
Scholars Commons @ Laurier |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://scholars.wlu.ca/etd/2205 https://scholars.wlu.ca/context/etd/article/3334/viewcontent/Jasmina_Vucic_Thesis___final_version_.pdf |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-134.826,-134.826,67.433,67.433) ENVELOPE(-133.610,-133.610,68.341,68.341) ENVELOPE(-133.006,-133.006,69.425,69.425) |
geographic |
Arctic Fort McPherson Inuvik Northwest Territories Tuktoyaktuk |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Fort McPherson Inuvik Northwest Territories Tuktoyaktuk |
genre |
Arctic Climate change Fort McPherson Inuvik Northwest Territories permafrost Tuktoyaktuk Zooplankton |
genre_facet |
Arctic Climate change Fort McPherson Inuvik Northwest Territories permafrost Tuktoyaktuk Zooplankton |
op_source |
Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive) |
op_relation |
https://scholars.wlu.ca/etd/2205 https://scholars.wlu.ca/context/etd/article/3334/viewcontent/Jasmina_Vucic_Thesis___final_version_.pdf |
op_rights |
2 Publicly accessible |
_version_ |
1768383156088471552 |