Landscape controls on phosphorus loading to boreal lakes: implications for the potential impacts of forest harvesting

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
For 12 low-order lakes in the Western Boreal Forest of Canada, lake position in the groundwater flow system and surface hydrologic connection to wetlands accounted for 57% of the variation in the change in postharvest (1997) relative to preharvest (1996) open-water median total phosphorous concentration ([TP]). Changes in [TP] decreased with calcium and magnesium concentrations, indicating that the largest increases in [TP] are likely to occur in lakes located in areas of groundwater recharge or shallow local discharge. Changes in [TP] increased with the area of wetland connected to the lake, a measure of near-surface hydrologic flushing of TP to the lake. However, the remaining variation (43%) in the TP response of lakes to harvest was not explained by landscape-based criteria. This study illustrates that in landscapes with complex hydrogeology, factors controlling the chemical responses of lakes to disturbance are complex, remain poorly understood, and require further study.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: