Document Type
Presentation
Publication Date
Spring 2024
Abstract
Lakes respond to climatic change with shifts in seasonality, stratification, primary production, biological community composition, and other conditions. Compared to larger lower-elevation lakes, “mountain” lakes are hypothesized to be more sensitive to some aspects of climatic change (e.g. watershed inputs from precipitation), but more buffered from others (e.g. snowpack stabilizing ice phenology). In this study of nine high-elevation lakes in the western Maine mountains, we evaluated the relationship between climate-linked lake conditions and zooplankton abundance and community composition. Water temperature, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll concentration, ice breakup date, secchi disk depth, and zooplankton abundance and taxonomic identification were collected from these mountain lakes between 2018-2023. We used linear models to evaluate the relationships between abundance of different zooplankton taxa and lake conditions, and used multivariate analysis to identify community composition shifts across lake conditions. Depending on the taxonomic resolution, we identified differing responses to dissolved oxygen, primary production, and other lake parameters. These results illuminate the lake characteristics that most affect secondary production in these lakes, identify sensitivities of different taxa to different conditions, and provide tools to anticipate future zooplankton community composition in these changing systems.
Recommended Citation
Gray, Sadie and Hovel, Rachel, "Zooplankton sensitivity to climate-driven conditions in high-elevation lakes in Maine" (2024). Student Scholarship. 4.
https://scholarworks.umf.maine.edu/student_scholarship/4
Comments
Wilson Fellowship and independent research project completed by Sadie Gray