Linkages between climate, hydrology and ecology of lakes in northern thermokarst landscapes: past, present and future

北部热岩溶景观湖泊气候、水文和生态之间的联系：过去、现在和未来

• 批准号: 227145-2010
• 负责人: Hall, Roland
• 金额: $ 3.13万
• 依托单位: University of Waterloo
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2013-01-01 至 2014-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=523918
• 关键词: Linkages; between; climate; hydrology; ecology

The impact of climate warming on water resources in northern Canada is a pressing concern, because water plays a key role in maintaining the ecological integrity of landscapes, economic development and traditional use by First Nations communities. The proposed research will improve understanding of how lakes in thermokarst landscapes of the Old Crow Flats (N. Yukon) and Hudson Bay Lowlands (N. Manitoba) respond to climatic changes. Both landscapes are recognized internationally as ecologically and culturally significant, but changes in lake and river hydrology challenge the ability of agencies to maintain integrity of their natural resources because existing data are insufficient to develop effective policies and practices. The proposed program will integrate 3 research components to provide information over a sufficient range of spatial and temporal (years to centuries) scales to quantify the roles of influential hydrological processes on ecological conditions of lakes in thermokarst landscapes; including: 1) use of spatial lake surveys of water, biota and stable isotopes to understand how hydrological processes regulate contemporary lake conditions; 2) use of spatial surveys of aquatic biota (algae) preserved in surficial lake sediments and which grow on experimental substrate stations to develop a scientifically robust ability to interpret eco-hydrological changes from analysis of biota preserved in sediment cores; and 3) analyses of sediment cores from selected lakes spanning the past millennium to quantify ecological responses to past hydrological changes. These thermokarst landscapes have been identified as very vulnerable to global warming, but their freshwater ecosystems remain the least studied and most poorly understood in North America. Thus, the proposed program will provide basic research on these systems and promote development of methodologies for long-term monitoring by agencies in the north. It will increase capacity of government agencies (Parks Canada, Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation) to fulfill their mandates to steward the landscapes effectively, and it will train 4 PhD, 2 MSc and 10 undergraduate research students in highly-sought fields of environmental assessment.

气候变暖对加拿大北部的水资源的影响是一个紧迫的问题，因为水在维持原住民社区的景观，经济发展和传统用途的生态完整性方面起着关键作用。拟议的研究将提高人们对旧乌鸦平地（N. Yukon）和哈德逊湾低地（N. Manitoba）湖中湖泊中的湖泊的理解。两种景观在国际上都被认为是生态和文化上的重要意义，但是湖泊和河流水文学的变化挑战了机构维持其自然资源完整性的能力，因为现有数据不足以制定有效的政策和实践。拟议的计划将整合3个研究组件，以提供在足够的空间和时间（数年到世纪）范围内提供信息，以量化有影响力的水文过程对湖泊湖泊生态条件的作用；包括：1）使用水，生物群和稳定同位素的空间湖泊调查，以了解水文过程如何调节当代湖泊状况； 2）使用保存在表面湖泊沉积物中的水生生物（藻类）的空间调查，并在实验性底物站上生长，以发展科学强大的能力，从而解释了保留在沉积物岩心中的生物群体分析的生态流水学变化； 3）对过去千年的选定湖泊的沉积物核心进行分析，以量化对过去水文变化的生态反应。这些Thermokarst景观已被确定为非常容易受到全球变暖的影响，但是它们的淡水生态系统仍然是研究最少，在北美知名度不佳。因此，拟议的计划将提供有关这些系统的基础研究，并促进北方机构长期监控方法的方法。它将提高政府机构（加拿大公园，Vuntut Gwitchin第一民族）的能力，以实现有效地管理景观的任务，并将培训4博士学位，2个MSC和10名本科研究生，并在高度良好的环境评估领域中进行培训。