Effects of experimental sulfate additions on nutrient cycling, cyanobacterial abundance and mercury methylation in Lake 227, experimental lakes area

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We are proposing a whole-lake sodium sulfate addition to a fishless, remote lake in the Experimental Lakes Area in Northwestern Ontario - artificially eutrophic Lake 227 which has received only phosphorus since 1990 to study several major questions related to eutrophication management, mercury bioaccumulation and road salt impacts. We hypothesize that varying sulfate levels in eutrophic lakes across Canada accounts for much of the chemical and biological variation in lake responses. The experiment will examine (1) the extent to which sulfate regulates internal phosphorus and iron loading from lake sediments which in turn, (2) control formation of nuisance cyanobacteria blooms, and (3) the extent to which sulfate regulates methylmercury formation rates. (4) This experiment requires a sodium chloride (i.e., road salt) control and thus one experiment will investigate four environmental problems.