Local physiographic controls on the responses of Arctic lakes to climate warming in Sirmilik National Park, Nunavut, Canada

Abstract

Twenty high Arctic lakes and ponds were sampled for water chemistry and modern diatom assemblages in two distinct physiographic sectors of Sirmilik National Park, Nunavut, Canada. Sites on southwestern Bylot Island were warmer, more alkaline, less dilute, and had higher concentrations of nutrients, DOC and Chl-a (mesotrophic to oligo-mesotrophic), whereas sites on Qorbignaluk Headland on northern Baffin Island were deeper, very dilute, mostly oligotrophic and had lower pH. Diatom assemblages differed markedly between these two regions as a consequence of limnological differences between them. Paleolimnological records, spanning > 200 years and dated by 210Pb activity, were produced from each region to compare biological responses to recent warming inferred from glaciological studies on Bylot Island and regional syntheses for the Arctic. Diatom assemblages began to change around AD 1900 at both sites. At Qorbignaluk Headland, marked shifts in diatom community composition occurred during the twentieth century, with large increases in the abundance of planktonic diatoms. At Bylot Island, diatom community changes began around the same time, and involved modest decreases in planktonic diatoms and increases in inferred specific conductance, likely because of a decrease in the areal extent of the small lake as a response to warming. The study confirms that responses of freshwater ecosystems to climate warming vary depending on local physiographic factors.