Contemporary and paleolimnological approaches for determining effects of multiple stressors on shallow northern lakes

加拿大北部湖泊丰富的淡水景观提供了一系列生态系统服务，长期以来，野生动物一直利用这些生态系统作为其独特的水生栖息地，原住民社区也一直利用这些生态系统来维持传统的生活方式。然而，它们的生态完整性可能受到多种压力因素的影响。不幸的是，随着时间和空间的变化，对水生生态系统状况的认识不足严重损害了正确联系因果关系的能力，预测这些生态系统未来将如何演变，并为资源管理者的管理实践提供信息。这是阿尔伯塔/西北地区伍德布法罗国家公园（WBNP）湖泊丰富的淡水景观的背景。在公园的南缘，和平-阿萨巴斯卡三角洲（PAD）的浅水湖泊受到气候驱动的和平河和阿萨巴斯卡河洪水供应减少、和平河上的新水电开发以及阿萨巴斯卡油砂开发带来的潜在污染物的威胁。在公园的北部，浅湖为标志性的濒危物种——鸣鹤提供了重要的繁殖地，但最近观察到的低水位阻碍了雏鸟的生存，并增加了捕食者的进入。

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.