The ecology and paleoecology of shallow lakes

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Shallow lakes are a pervasive feature in temperate landscapes and hotspots of biological productivity. Despite the ubiquity of shallow lakes, there has been a bias in limnology to study deep lakes. Europeans have recognized this disparity and over the past two decades, they have contributed new data about the ecology and paleoecology of shallow lakes in Europe. However, given the increasing pressures on fresh waters, it is important to obtain data for shallow lakes in North America to determine the extent to which European models will be applicable to this continent. To address this need, I have initiated a research program that uses both spatial and temporal approaches to resolve patterns of ecological change in shallow lakes. The crux of the present proposal is to develop new tools for inferring past ecological changes from lake sediment records and apply these tools to quantify the trajectories, timing and magnitude of ecological dynamics in temperate, northeastern North American shallow lakes over the past ~1000 years. This research will collect and analyze data for a spectrum of paleolimnological indicators (i.e., algal pigments, diatoms, cladocera, chironomids, pollen and macrofossils) to enable ecological changes to be inferred in the broadest context possible. The results will then be compared with published records from other regions to determine if the ecological dynamics scale with the intensity of land-use and climate variability at a global level or whether responses are more regionally defined. This knowledge is critical for modeling the response of shallow lakes to future trajectories of environmental change and for developing effective environmental stewardship plans for one of our most precious natural resources - fresh water.