Implications of rapid climate change on lake algal ecology in Acadia National Park, U.S.A.

Warner, Kate; Fowler, Rachel; Gawley, William; Saros, Jasmine

From the abstract: "Recent work has shown that average water clarity of lakes in Acadia has been decreasing since 1995. This decline corresponds to an increase in dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations across the same set of lakes. It is believed that rapid changes in climate conditions and patterns of atmospheric deposition have resulted in these shifts in DOC and subsequent declines in water clarity. In particular, extreme precipitation events are correlated with elevated lake water DOC concentrations. While much work has been done to document physical and chemical trends in Acadia lakes in recent decades, less is understood about associated biological trends. We have selected six important Acadia lakes with long-term biogeochemical data records on which to focus our study. Our goals are to: 1) evaluate changes in algal ecology and key water quality metrics seasonally and in response to extreme precipitation events; 2) create a catalog of current algal taxa in the six study lakes; and 3) quantify longer-term climate-driven changes in algal ecology. Beginning in the Spring of 2016 we have collected data from a spring, summer, and single storm sampling and evaluated some of these key water quality metrics. It is our goal that these results will be useful for informing resource management plans for lakes and ponds in Acadia National Park."