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

加拿大北方湖泊丰富的淡水景观提供了一系列生态系统服务，长期以来一直被野生动物利用其独特的水生栖息地，并被第一民族社区用于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的影响。不幸的是，对水生生态系统在空间和时间上的状况了解不足，严重损害了正确关联因果关系、预测这些生态系统未来如何演变以及为资源管理者的管理实践提供信息的能力。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。在公园的南部边缘，和平-阿萨巴斯卡三角洲（PAD）的浅水湖泊受到气候驱动的来自和平河和阿萨巴斯卡河的洪水供应减少，和平河上新的水电开发以及阿萨巴斯卡油砂开发带来的污染物负荷的威胁。在公园的北方部分，浅水湖泊为标志性濒危物种高鸣起重机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.