Monitoring periphyton in lakes experiencing shoreline development

Abstract

Early detection of degradation is crucial in previously pristine lakes experiencing residential development along their shores. Despite suggestions that the littoral zone responds to anthropogenic disturbance before open water, the use of periphyton for monitoring lake trophic status has been hindered by the heterogeneous distribution of this community. We examined the response of periphyton growing on different natural substrata — rocks, wood, sediments, and macrophytes — as well as on introduced plastic strips along a gradient of residential development in the Laurentian lakes (Quebec). We measured periphyton biomass as chlorophyll a and as thickness estimated with a ruler with the goal to evaluate the best method to monitor the incipient degradation of these lakes. Our findings suggest that rocks are the best substratum to sample because they are ubiquitous, and epilithic algae show a stronger response to shoreline residential development than algae on other substrata. Measurement of epilithon thickness appears a fast and reliable tool for estimating epilithon biomass. If measurements of chlorophyll a require several field and laboratory manipulations that are not readily available for voluntary lake monitoring by residents, measurement of periphyton thickness on rocks may allow examining spatial and temporal changes in a large number of lakes.