User:Klikata/Lake 223

Location
Lake 223 is located in northwestern Ontario, Canada. It is a part of the Experimental Lakes Area that is used to devote resources to better understand lakes and research aquatic science. Lake 223 was primarily used within the experimental lakes area for studies on acid rain and its effects on freshwater ecosystems.

Experiment Lakes Studies
The experimental lakes area is used to overcome freshwater challenges as climate continues to change, agriculture is growing, and more contaminants must be considered. The IISD Experimental Lakes Area is the formal name for the natural laboratory that makes up the experiment lakes area in Northwestern Ontario, Canada. There are 58 small lakes used for research that are not affected by human impacts. The Experimental Lakes Area is run by the International Institute for Sustainable Development which focuses on an evidence based approach in the research and findings from these experiments. The goal of this area is to get more accurate findings about Ecosystem s and use this to address freshwater issues and policies.

One common study done by multiple experiments involves the study of lake acidification in lake 223. Lake 223 was experimentally acidified with sulphuric acid to study the affects of decreasing pH. Lake 223 was intentionally acidified to pH 5.0 for 3 years and allowed to recover over time. This Freshwater acidification period was useful to study how various qualities of a lake change during and after Freshwater acidification.

Acid Rain Experiments
Within the 1980s acid rain was a focus in the study of limnology and how it impacts freshwater ecosystems. Acid rain is still a present problem. Acid rain forms when nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide gasses are released in the atmosphere, react with oxygen and water in the clouds to form nitric and sulfuric acid, and fall as raindrops or form as a fog. Acidic precipitation causes acidified soil and decreased pH of freshwater ecosystems that can impact the makeups of lake communities and freshwater resources. From 1976 to 1983 the Experimental Lakes Area held a whole-ecosystem acid rain study to better understand the effects of acid rain, primarily conducted in Lake 223.

Malley and Chang 1986
This paper study observed how Cladoceran abundance and biomass changed with acidification and pH changes within lake 223 from 1974 to 1983. After lake 223 was acidified with sulfuric acid, Cladocerans increased in both absolute abundance and total biomass. Some species disappeared while others became rare, and some species increased and became abundant. This paper hypothesized that Cladocerans increased because of decline in predation by small fish. One species found to be lost by acidification that the paper thought could be related to the increase of zooplankton was the oppossum shrimp. The loss of this predator was thought to play a role in the structure of zooplankton communities .The paper overall saw results of increase in Cladocerans with the acidification of lake 223.

Mills et al. 1987
Within the Mills et al. study, the focus here was on the fish species present prior to acidification and how that changed with increased lake acidification within Lake 223. Lake trout, white sucker, fathead minnow, and slimy sculpin were the most abundant fish species of Lake 223 prior to acidification. The study found some declines of certain fish species and various patterns with the declining pH of the lake and fish survival of each species. There was an overall decline in abundance of fathead minnow and slimy sculpin. Pearl dace, white sucker, and lake trout all showed initial increases in abundance with the beginning of acidification, but declined with further acidification. In 1982, recruitment had ceased for all fish within Lake 223 causing these declines in the abundances.

Mills et al. 2000
Lake 223 was used within this paper study to monitor fish over a 13 year period from acidification of Lake 223 at pH 5.1 rising back to its natural value of pH 6.7. This paper monitored the fish for 13 years while the lake recovered. After the lake was acidified for experimentation, recruitment of fish stopped for all species within the lake. Two species were found to become extinct. The rest of the species in the lake were able to survive the lowest pH of lake 223. The study found that as pH began to increase again over time, recruitment resumed for all remaining species. Specifically, lake trout abundance decreased during acidification and remained low during pH rise, but their growth curve and annual survival rose back to pre-acidification values as pH of lake 223 rose. Fish species faced impacts from the acidification that can now be used from this experimental lake to make predictions for other acidified lakes.

Mills et al. 2002
As mentioned before, Lake 223 was intentionally acidified to a lower pH and allowed to recover back to neutral. One experiment studied the Biomass and production of lake charr within the lake during the change of acidity. During the first years in which pH decreased, biomass of the lake charr increased. The final year of acidification, the biomass then decreased and remained low in Lake 223 for 15 following years as the lake recovered back to neutral. Lake charr production overall decreased during acidification and increased during the pH recovery but remained lower than original values before acidification occurred. The lake charr biomass increase observed during acidification was due to good recruitment that causes an increase in abundance and allowed for higher biomass to sustain through. When pH was very low this is when recruitment became low but biomass was able to sustain because of increased abundance of organisms from earlier recruitment before full acidification. This experiment also found that fish production is decreased at lower pH values. Overall, production and biomass are impacted by the acidity of the lake environment, and Lake 223 produced an environment to study this.

Findlay et al.
Another study conducted by D.L. Findlay focused on the effects of acidification on littoral epilithic algae which are algae associated with rock surfaces. It is mentioned that the pre-acidification states of many studied lakes are unknown, but the responses of natural pelagic phytoplankton to acidification are well known and documented. The purpose of this experiment was to compare the responses of phytoplankton within Lake 223 to the responses documented in Lake 302S over a pH gradient of 6.7 to 4.5 as the two populations have similar pH and chemical environments. The results from the experiment showed that changes in phytoplankton of the two lakes were similar as total biomass increased and species diversity decreased with decrease in pH. The analysis of results concludes that species that thrive in the more acidic lake ecosystems are sheathed and covered with cellulose plates while other species that are not of these qualities move away from the acidic areas of water into the metalimnion that has higher pH values. This is likely why there is little change in species diversity as a pH gradient within the water provides multiple niches for more species to fill. When pH reached lower than 5, phytoplankton had a decrease in the growth rate. Some other contributors mentioned for the results found could be nutrients as nitrifying bacteria were incapable of adapting to the acidic conditions of the experimental lake and could stop the proper flow of the nitrogen cycle. Many algal changes can cause irreversible damage to aquatic ecosystems, so it is important to acknowledge the recovery of the lake ecosystem of Lake 223 in this experiment for future lakes that may be acidified.

Findlay & Kasian
Findlay and Kasian are authors alongside others in the above cited paper, but have another paper discussing phytoplankton communities within lake 223. This paper focuses again on the decrease to pH of 5.0 for 3 years time by artificial additions of H2SO4. The study was of how the decrease in pH caused changes in epilimnetic phytoplankton communities within lake 223. The pH had a noted decrease from 6.7 to 5.0. The experiment hypothesized that biomass would not increase as pH decreased and species of chrysophytes, chlorophytes, and diatoms would be the first to disappear and be replaced by dinoflagellates. The hypothesis also stated that species diversity would decrease as pH decreased. After analyzing data from the pre-acidification to during and recovery, the study found overall that the epilimnetic phytoplankton community in lake 223 experienced significant changes with decrease of pH. Biomass was found to increase with a pH decrease from 6.7 to 5.6 majority being few specific species that have forms of protection against the acidic environment. Due to the acidity, the species without this protection decreased, so the species diversity within Lake 223 decreased with acidification. Smaller species of phytoplankton were replaced by larger species so the food web was altered within Lake 223 as these larger species are inedible compared to species of pre-acidification. Overall, species composition and diversity are good indicators of acidification of lakes while biomass is not.

Lake 223 Today
Lake 223 is still monitored after the acid rain experimentation ended. The water chemistry after acidification has returned to its pre-acidification conditions, but the biological makeup of the lake has not returned to where it was before experimentation. One major species that has a lower abundance than prior to acidification is lake trout within Lake 223. There are less than half of the lake trout compared to before the experimentation. Researchers are restoring the lake trout population though, and continue to use the record from Lake 223 for other lakes affected by acid rain.