Patterns in Phytoplankton and Zooplankton in Minnesota Lakes
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Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Special Publication 178, January 2016 Patterns in Phytoplankton and Zooplankton in Minnesota Lakes Authors Steven Heiskary, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Environmental Analysis and Outcomes Division, 520 Lafayette Road, St. Paul MN 55155 Jodie Hirsch, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Division of Ecological and Water Resources, 500 Lafayette Road, St. Paul MN 55155 Heidi Rantala, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Division of Fish and Wildlife - Section of Fisheries, 500 Lafayette Road, St. Paul MN 55155 Acknowledgements Field surveys were conducted by numerous Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and Department of Natural Resources staff as a part of the Sustaining Lakes in a Changing Environment (SLICE) long-term lake monitoring program. Pam Anderson and Joe Hadash of MPCA and Brian Herwig MN DNR provided helpful reviews. Ann St. Amand with Phyco Tech Inc. and Mark Edlund with Science Museum of Minnesota, St. Croix Research Station, provided external review and comments. In addition to their reviews, each provided ideas on further data analysis. Funding for this work was provided by Minnesota’s Legislative and Citizen’s Commission on Minnesota’s Resources (LCCMR) by an appropriation awarded to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (M.L. 2013, Chp. 52, Sec. 2, Subd. 05a), Jeffrey R. Reed, Project Manager. Edited by Jeffrey Reed. i Contents Authors .................................................................................................................................................. i Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................... i List of Tables ................................................................................................................................................... iii List of Figures ................................................................................................................................................... v Executive Summary ......................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 3 Methods ........................................................................................................................................... 5 Field collections and lab procedures ................................................................................................................ 5 Statistical Analysis ........................................................................................................................................... 6 Results and Discussion ..................................................................................................................... 7 Lake physical and chemical characteristics ..................................................................................................... 7 Regional climate characteristics ..................................................................................................................... 10 Patterns in phytoplankton and zooplankton ................................................................................................... 12 Analysis approach .............................................................................................................................. 12 Lake-specific phytoplankton and zooplankton descriptions ............................................................... 16 Seasonal transition in algal forms ....................................................................................................... 48 Cyanobacteria abundance, nuisance blooms, and toxin producers ..................................................... 53 Interrelationships among phytoplankton, zooplankton, and chemical and physical lake characteristics......................................................................................................................... 57 Invasive species impacts on phytoplankton, zooplankton, and water quality .................................... 66 Summary and Recommendations ................................................................................................... 73 References ...................................................................................................................................... 75 Appendix ........................................................................................................................................ 79 ii List of Tables Table 1. List of Sentinel Lakes and years that data were collected and included in this report. Land type refers to classification in Figure 1. Lakes sorted from northeast to southwest ...........4 Table 2. Summary of lake morphometry and mean summer water chemistry attributes based on Sentinel collections from 2008-2012. Lakes are sorted by ecoregion (NLF=Northern Lakes and Forests, CHF=Central Hardwoods Forests, WCP=Western Corn Belt Plains, and NGP=Northern Glaciated Plains.) ....................................................................................... 7 Table 3. Annual precipitation, evaporation and runoff for Minnesota. Derived from Heiskary and Wilson (1994) based on summary data from c1980s ............................................................... 10 Table 4. Climate summary for select Minnesota stations for summer (June-August) 2013 and 2014. MN DNR climatology records from NWS sites. ............................................................ 10 Table 5. Summary of total taxa richness, diatom richness and diatom richness as percentage of total taxa. Lakes ordered on TP gradient (see Figure 2) and generally from northeast to central to southwest .................................................................................................................. 13 Table 6. Zooplankton taxa richness, average seasonal densities (#/L) and average seasonal biomass (µg/L). (Excludes nauplii and copepodites) ............................................................... 15 Table 7. Prominent algal species present in Greenwood. Those species with ~10% or greater occurrence in samples ............................................................................................................... 16 Table 8. Prominent zooplankton taxa present in Greenwood Lake. Taxa with ~10% or greater occurrence in samples noted ..................................................................................................... 17 Table 9. Prominent algal species present in Trout Lake. Species with ~10% or greater occurrence in samples noted ....................................................................................................................... 17 Table 10. Prominent zooplankton taxa present in Trout Lake. Taxa with ~10% or greater occurrence in samples noted ..................................................................................................... 18 Table 11. Prominent algal species present in Ten Mile Lake. Species with ~10% or greater occurrence in samples noted. .................................................................................................... 19 Table 12. Prominent zooplankton taxa present in Ten Mile Lake. Taxa with ~10% or greater occurrence in samples noted ..................................................................................................... 19 Table 13. Prominent algal species present in Bear Head Lake. Species with ~10% or greater occurrence in samples noted ..................................................................................................... 20 Table 14. Prominent zooplankton taxa present in Bear Head Lake. Taxa with ~10% or greater occurrence in samples noted ..................................................................................................... 21 Table 15. Prominent algal species present in Tait Lake. Species with ~10% or greater occurrence in samples noted ..................................................................................................... 21 Table 16. Prominent zooplankton taxa present in Tait Lake. Taxa with ~10% or greater occurrence in samples noted ..................................................................................................... 22 Table 17. Prominent algal species present in Lake Carlos. Species with ~10% or greater occurrence in samples noted ..................................................................................................... 23 Table 18. Prominent zooplankton taxa present in Lake Carlos. Taxa with ~10% or greater occurrence in samples noted ..................................................................................................... 23 Table 19. Prominent algal species present in Elk Lake. Species with ~10% or greater occurrence in samples noted ........................................................................................................................... 24 Table 20. Prominent zooplankton taxa present in Elk Lake. Taxa with ~10% or greater occurrence in samples noted ....................................................................................................................... 25 Table 21. Prominent algal species present in Pearl Lake. Species with ~10% or greater occurrence in samples noted ....................................................................................................