Chrysophycean cyst assemblages and their relationship to water chemistry in 71 Adirondack Park (New York, USA) lakes mssub: 1994-09-12 msacc: 1995-02-28

Abstract

Chrysophycean cysts were identified and enumerated from the surface sediments of 71 lakes in Adirondack Park, New York, and their relationships with measured limnological variables were examined with canonical ordination (redundancy analysis). Gradients in the cyst distributions were most strongly related to conductivity, dissolved organic carbon, Secchi depth, and aluminum. Lesser amounts of variance in the cyst data were explained by pH, acid neutralizing capacity (ANC), maximum depth, and altitude. We derived predictive models for 13 environmental variables based on the cyst assemblages using partial least squares (PLS) regression. The best models, in terms of regression coefficients (r 2 ) and root mean square errors of prediction (RMSEP), were obtained for pH and ANC (r 2 = 0.64 ; RMSEP = 0.59 and 0.46 ln (μeq/L+41)), respectively, followed by [Mg] (r 2 = 0.53, RMSEP = 0.36 In (μeq/L+1)), total aluminum (r 2 = 0.48, RMSEP = 0.86 In (μg/L+1)), conductivity (r 2 = 0.46, RMSEP = 0.19 ln (μS/cm+1)), and monomeric aluminum (r 2 =0.35, RMSEP = 0.66 ln (μM+1)). These models can be used to infer historical levels of these variables in paleolimnological studies.