Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Contemporary and Paleolimnological Approaches for Determining Effects of Multiple Stressors on Shallow Northern Lakes Lake-rich freshwater landscapes in northern Canada provide an array of ecosystem services that have long been utilized by wildlife for their unique aquatic habitat and by First Nation communities to sustain traditional ways of life. Their ecological integrity, however, may be affected by multiple stressors. Unfortunately, insufficient knowledge of aquatic ecosystem conditions over space and time severely impairs ability to correctly associate cause and effect, anticipate how these ecosystems will evolve in the future, and inform stewardship practices by resource managers. This is the context for lake-rich freshwater landscapes in Wood Buffalo National Park (WBNP), Alberta/NWT. At the southern margin of the Park, shallow lakes of the Peace-Athabasca Delta (PAD) are threatened by climate-driven diminishing supply of floodwater from the Peace and Athabasca rivers, new hydroelectric development on the Peace River, and by the potential for contaminant loading from development of the Athabasca oilsands. In the northern sector of the Park, shallow lakes provide critical breeding ground for Whooping Crane, an iconic endangered species, but recently observed low water levels hamper chick survival and increase predator access. The NSERC DG program will support several coordinated research projects designed to address pressing knowledge gaps on the influence of multiple stressors on the water quantity and water quality of shallow lake ecosystems of the PAD and WBNP. Research will characterize status and trends of hydrological conditions and determine pathways, dispersal, and depositional history of metal contaminants in lakes of the PAD, and identify hydrological processes that control spatial and temporal (seasonal to decadal) variations in lake water balances in the Whooping Crane habitat region of WBNP. Methods employed will include proven, extensive use, and integration of water isotope tracers and multi-parameter analysis of lake sediment cores, as well as novel exploration of metal accumulation in periphytic algae collected on artificial substrates. These targeted research projects will generate fundamental environmental baseline information required for a range of aquatic ecosystem components. Projects will provide exceptional field and laboratory training for 6 BSc, 3 MSc, and 2 PhD students in diverse areas of basic and applied northern environmental science. Findings will be of broad interest to First Nation, government agency, and industry stakeholders for informing stewardship.