The Development of a Planktonic Index of Biotic Integrity
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THE DEVELOPMENT OF A PLANKTONIC INDEX OF BIOTIC INTEGRITY FOR LAKE ERIE DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of the Ohio State University By Douglas D. Kane, B.S., M.S. ***** The Ohio State University 2004 Dissertation Committee: Dr. David A. Culver, Adviser Dr. Paul C. Baumann Approved by Dr. Steven I. Gordon Dr. Michael A. Hoggarth _______________________________ Dr. Jeffrey M. Reutter Adviser Dr. Roy A. Stein Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology ABSTRACT Herein, I provide a water quality monitoring tool for the offshore waters of Lake Erie. The Planktonic Index of Biotic Integrity (P-IBI) was developed using Lake Erie zooplankton and phytoplankton data. I reviewed literature related to Indices of Biotic Integrity and plankton ecology (Chapter 1). To construct a valid IBI, I conducted temporal and spatial analyses for different parameters of Lake Erie plankton and plankton sampling regimens (Chapter 2). Using this information, I then determined appropriate temporal and spatial sampling frequency needed for the P-IBI. Further, using Lake Erie monitoring data I provide information on the invasive predatory cladoceran, Cercopagis pengoi (Chapter 3), and on the temporal and spatial distribution of Limnocalanus macrurus (Chapter 4), a pollution intolerant calanoid copepod. The P-IBI was developed using phytoplankton and zooplankton data from 1970 and 1996, validated with respect to total phosphorus and chlorophyll a concentrations, and applied to approximately 10 years of Lake Erie plankton data (Chapter 5). P-IBI candidate zooplankton metrics included an abundance ratio of calanoid copepods to cladocerans and cyclopoid copepods, percentage density of large Daphnia, rotifer composition, density of the calanoid copepod Limnocalanus macrurus, percentage biomass of the predatory invasive zooplankters Bythotrephes and Cercopagis, biomass of crustacean zooplankton/ biomass of phytoplankton, and biomass of crustacean zooplankton. Candidate phytoplankton metrics included a generic index of diatoms, abundance ratio of centric diatoms to ii pennate diatoms, biomass of inedible algae taxa, percentage biomass of bluegreen algae of the total phytoplankton biomass, percentage biomass of the potentially toxic Microcystis, Anabaena, and Aphanizomenon of total phytoplankton biomass, and biomass of edible algae taxa. Discriminant analysis was used to determine which metrics reflected levels of degradation in Lake Erie, as based on total phosphorus and chlorophyll a concentrations. A Kappa statistic was calculated to determine the classification accuracy of the significant metrics obtained from the discriminant analysis. Significant metrics for June included biomass of edible algae taxa, percentage Microcystis, Anabaena, and Aphanizomenon of total phytoplankton biomass, and an abundance ratio of calanoids to cladocerans and cyclopoids. The only significant metric for July was the density of Limnocalanus macrurus, while both the zooplankton abundance ratio and crustacean zooplankton biomass were significant metrics for August. The P-IBI was significantly correlated with a measure of eutrophication (e.g., total phytoplankton biomass) and showed an increase of water quality between 1970 and the mid-1990’s (1996 and 1997) in Lake Erie, with declining water quality in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. iii Dedicated to my father, Donald E. Kane iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to thank my adviser, Dr. David A. Culver, for teaching me to think more scientifically, broadening my academic horizons, and for providing both intellectual and financial support for this project. I thank a number of scientists who have helped me throughout my research. First of all, I thank my committee members: Drs. Roy Stein, Jeff Reutter, Paul Baumann, Michael Hoggarth, and Steve Gordon, for their expertise and suggestions. I especially thank Dr. Steve Gordon, Department of City and Regional Planning, the Ohio State University, and the Ohio Supercomputer Center, for consultation on statistical methodology and Roy Stein for his careful criticism of drafts of this dissertation. I would also like to thank Drs. John Gannon, David Jude and C. Edward Herdendorf for helpful advice. I thank Roger Thoma, Ohio EPA, who believed in the importance of developing a P-IBI, as well as the whole Lake Erie Quality Index Team for helpful feedback during the development of the Planktonic IBI. I thank both the Ohio Journal of Science for permission to use my publication “The characteristics and potential ecological effects of the exotic crustacean zooplankter Cercopagis pengoi (Cladocera: Cercopagidae), a recent invader of Lake Erie” (Ohio Journal of Science 103: 79-83) and the Journal of Great Lakes Research for permission to use my publication “The status of Limnocalanus macrurus (Copepoda: Calanoida: v Centropagidae) in Lake Erie” ( Journal of Great Lakes Research 30: 22-30) as chapters in my dissertation. Further, I thank Dr. Roy Stein for suggesting that these publications be included as part of my dissertation. For the Cercopagis research, I would like to again thank Dr. David Jude, Center for Great Lakes and Aquatic Sciences- University of Michigan, for showing me samples of Cercopagis pengoi from Lake Michigan that allowed me to identify it in Lake Erie. I would also like to thank two anonymous reviewers who greatly improved the quality of this manuscript. For the Limnocalanus research, I thank Jeff Tyson and Carey Knight of the ODW, Donald Einhouse of New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), and Roger Kenyon of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission for rainbow smelt trawl data. I thank Katherine Simons and Doug Hunter, Biological Sciences, Oakland University, Rochester, MI and Bruce Davis, USGS/BRD, Great Lakes Science Center, Ann Arbor, MI for Lake St. Clair Limnocalanus data. Finally, I thank two anonymous reviewers, whose constructive comments allowed us to greatly improve this manuscript. I would also like to thank all of the technicians who have analyzed plankton samples for the Lake Erie Plankton Abundance Study (LEPAS). I am especially grateful to Erin Haas and Nate Gargasz for the many years they spent analyzing zooplankton and phytoplankton samples, as well as maintaining the LEPAS database. I thank Joe Conroy for assistance in the preparation of a number of figures and helpful discussions. Finally, I vi thank Kelsey Reider for conducting the VIP research and for data entry and Maryke Swartz for data entry. I thank the Ohio Lake Erie Protection Fund for supporting this work (LEQI 01- 05). Further, plankton analyses for this project were funded by the Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Program (F-69-P, Fish Management in Ohio), administered jointly by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Ohio Division of Wildlife. A Raymond C. Osborn Memorial Fellowship from the Graduate School at the Ohio State University and the Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology at OSU provided me additional summer support. Further, I thank the Ohio Division of Wildlife of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, and the National Water Resources Institute of Environmental Canada for extensive Lake Erie plankton sample collection from the 1990’s until present. I am also greatly indebted to Dr. Murray Charlton of the National Water Resources Institute for access to site, nutrient, chlorophyll a, and zooplankton data from 1970, Dr. Mohiuddin Munawar of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans for phytoplankton data for 1970, and Dr. David Dolan of the University of Wisconsin- Green Bay for phosphorus loading data. Finally, I thank Heather Niblock of Dr. Munawar’s lab for assistance with data acquisitio n. Finally, I would like to thank my wife Melissa for being there for me through much of this research, and my mother, Carol L. Kane, for providing emotional and financial support. vii VITA January 8, 1977………………………Born – Cleveland, Ohio 1999………………………………….B.S. Zoology, with Minors in Plant Biology and History of Art, The Ohio State University 2002………………………………….M.S. Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University 1999 – present……………………….Graduate Teaching and Research Associate, The Ohio State University PUBLICATIONS Research Publications 1. Kane, D.D. 2002. Science in the art of the Italian Renaissance I: Ghiberti’s Gates of Paradise- linear perspective and space. Ohio Journal of Science 102: 110-112. 2. Kane, D.D. 2002. Science in the art of the Italian Renaissance II: Leonardo DaVinci’s representations of animals in his works. Ohio Journal of Science 102: 113- 115. viii 3. Therriault, T. W., Grigorovich, I. A., Kane, D. D., Haas, E. M., Culver, D. A., and MacIsaac, H. J. 2002. Range expansion of the exotic zooplankter Cercopagis pengoi (Ostroumov) into western Lake Erie and Muskegon Lake. Journal of Great Lakes Research 28: 698-701. 4. Kane, D.D., Haas, E. M., and Culver, D. A. 2003. The characteristics and potential ecological effects of the exotic crustacean zooplankter Cercopagis pengoi (Cladocera: Cercopagidae), a recent invader of Lake Erie. Ohio Journal of Science 103: 79-83. 5. Kane, D. D., Gannon, J.E., and Culver, D.A. 2004. The status of Limnocalanus macrurus (Copepoda: Calanoida: Centropagidae) in Lake Erie. Journal of Great Lakes Research 30: 22-30. FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology ix TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………...ii