BRGMON-6 | Seton Lake Aquatic Productivity Monitoring
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Bridge River Project Water Use Plan Seton Lake Aquatic Productivity Monitoring Implementation Year 2 Reference: BRGMON-6 Study Period: 2015-2016 Limnotek Research and Development Inc. and affiliated organizations May 16, 2016 SETON LAKE AQUATIC PRODUCTIVITY MONITORING: PROGRESS IN 2015-16 BC Hydro project number BRGMON#6 May 16, 2016 Seton Lake aquatic productivity monitoring (BRGMON6) progress in 2015-16 SETON LAKE AQUATIC PRODUCTIVITY MONITORING: PROGRESS IN 2015 - 2016 BC Hydro project number BRGMON#6 Submitted to BC Hydro Burnaby, B.C. Prepared by Limnotek Research and Development Inc. May 16, 2016 ii St’at’imc Eco-Resources May 2016 Seton Lake aquatic productivity monitoring (BRGMON6) progress in 2015-16 Citation: Limnotek*. 2016. Seton Lake aquatic productivity monitoring (BRGMON6): Progress in 2015-16. Report prepared for BC Hydro. 172p. *Authors of this report are listed according to task and affiliation under Acknowledgements on page x. The study was managed by St’at’imc Eco-Resources Ltd. Cover photo: Crew running water filtrations on board the boat on Seton Lake, June 17, 2015: C. Perrin photo. © 2016 BC Hydro. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior permission from BC Hydro, Burnaby, B.C. iii St’at’imc Eco-Resources May 2016 Seton Lake aquatic productivity monitoring (BRGMON6) progress in 2015-16 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report provides information from the first two of three years of monitoring, sample collection, laboratory work, and analysis that is required to answer four management questions addressing uncertainties about relationships between water management actions and biological production in Seton Lake. Question 1: What is the inter-annual variation in physical conditions in the Seton Lake caused by the diversion and did the diversion change primary and secondary production in Seton Lake? The last ~500 years of trophic changes in Seton and Anderson lakes is being reconstructed using a multi-proxy, multi-trophic paleolimnological approach using algal pigments, diatoms, cladocera zooplankton, stable isotopes, and a variety of lithological indicators. The study is assessing the cumulative effects of the diversion of water from Carpenter Lake to Seton Lake and climate change on primary and secondary production in Seton Lake. Anderson Lake is being used as a control lake. Cores collected in 2014 showed greater rates of sedimentation in Seton than in Anderson Lake: sediment from the year 1900 occurred at a depth of 12 cm in Anderson and 23 cm in Seton. According to the age model to date, all three cores from Seton Lake exhibit highest rates of sedimentation near the discharge from the Bridge generating station and lower rates with increasing distance eastward and downstream from the generation station. Magnetic susceptibility was greater at sites closest to the diversion than at sites further from the diversion in Seton Lake, inferring a diversion effect on inorganic properties of the Seton sediment. Pigment analysis showed that algal assemblages in the cores included common diatoms, cryptophytes, and blue-greens that form the basis of the pelagic food chain in Seton and Anderson Lakes. All cores from Seton Lake showed an abrupt decline in all pigment concentrations and thus algal production coinciding with the timing of the Bridge River diversion. Time course change in diatom assemblages were consistent with this change. In contrast, pigment concentrations increased in Anderson Lake over the same time period. A decrease in concentrations of the sub-fossil cladoceran remains coincided with the timing of the Bridge River diversion in Seton Lake cores analyzed to date (one core remains to be examined) but not in Anderson Lake. Preliminary evidence shows that Seton Lake shifted from a higher meso-eutrophic state in an earlier time period to a more oligotrophic state in recent years. No shift in trophic state has been found in preliminary analysis of the Anderson Lake cores. All findings are preliminary. Final conclusions will be developed once the cladoceran analysis of the final core is examined in late spring, 2016 and the core age model is finalized later in 2016. Tasks to be completed in 2016 are as follows: iv St’at’imc Eco-Resources May 2016 Seton Lake aquatic productivity monitoring (BRGMON6) progress in 2015-16 • Completion of the core age analysis, • Further analysis of Cladocera assemblages over time, • Completion of grain size analyses, • Data analysis using the BACI design in PRIMER. In order to apply the BACI design, the age model needs be finalized for all cores, which will be done using the radioisotopic data outlined in this report. Question 2: Will the selected alternative (N2-2P) increase biological production in Seton Lake? Analysis and interpretation of hydrology data that was accessed from BC Hydro showed that N2-2P did not change available habitat and water residence time for fish and production of food for fish in Seton Lake. This finding means that measurements of primary and secondary production and attributes of the pelagic habitat will be used to mainly support interpretations of findings in other parts of the project (e.g. paleolimnology and the fish growth and migration patterns). Despite this focus for the limnology data, statistical tests will still be run to test the effect of N2-2P on primary and secondary production. If an effect is found after all data are collected after 2016, it will show that something other than N2-2P was producing the effect because the hydrology data show no effect of N2-2P on availability and attributes of pelagic habitat. Stable stratification of Seton and Anderson Lakes was present in May – October, 2015 with evidence of seiche activity (east-west rocking of the thermocline). The monthly temperature profiling in 2015 showed a seiche amplitude of approximately 10m. This amount of seiche activity will produce temperature oscillations of several degrees over short periods of time in the outflow Seton River. The actual timing, frequency, and magnitude of seiche oscillation and its effect on fish habitat in the Seton River would have to be determined with more detailed measurements that were beyond the scope of the present study. Turbid inflows to Seton Lake originate from the diversion of water from Carpenter Lake and to a small extent at certain times of the year from Whitecap Creek that flows into Portage Creek at the west end of Seton Lake. Inflow turbidity from the diversion occurs in three modes during spring through fall months. A spring influx is dispersed over much of the water column in Seton Lake and dissipates from higher turbidity at the diversion inflow end to low turbidity at the lake outflow. A fall influx of high turbidity is distributed over two distinct layers in Seton Lake: one consisting of particles that sink rapidly upon discharge from the diversion and produce turbidity along a bottom plume at the eastern end of the lake and a surface layer of very small particles that disperse along Seton Lake, producing a brilliant turquoise colour in the fall. Those surface particles must have colloidal properties to remain in suspension while the bottom particles must be relatively large to sink rapidly. Given that diversion inflow in the fall has a temperature that is similar to that of surface water in Seton Lake, the surface turbidity consisting of the very small particles, is entrained in surface water of Seton lake and travels eastward within the Seton epilimnion. v St’at’imc Eco-Resources May 2016 Seton Lake aquatic productivity monitoring (BRGMON6) progress in 2015-16 Biological production was measured among the algal (primary production) and zooplankton (secondary production) assemblages. Rates of primary production in Anderson and Seton Lakes were similar to those found in 2014 and were lower than those found in earlier measurements from 2000-2003. They were in the middle of the range of rates of primary production known among lakes and reservoirs of British Columbia. Rates of zooplankton production in both lakes were within a range found in meso-oligotrophic lakes. Comparison of chemical and biological metric values with published criteria showed that Seton and Anderson Lakes are meso-oligotrophic with respect to trophic state. One more year of measurements of primary and secondary production and ancillary measurements of phytoplankton and zooplankton biomass, turbidity, water chemistry, light, CTD profiles, etc. are required before analysis of the effect of N2-2P on biological production can be run. That work is scheduled for May to October of 2016 followed by lab work, data analysis, and reporting in 2017. Question 3: To what extent does aquatic productivity alone limit the abundance and diversity of fish populations in Seton Lake? Between-lake differences between junvenile O. nerka ecology, biology and behaviour and physical habitat conditions (temperature, turbidity, light transmission) were examined in Anderson and Seton lakes to examine differences in growth and survival rates of O. nerka rearing in the lakes and to examine factors that may modify growth and abundance driven from biological production. Field work was conducted in 2014 followed by laboratory and data analyses and data interpretations in 2015 and early 2016. Analysis of population structure, growth, and behaviour revealed complex differences among fish populations between Seton Lake and Anderson Lake. A combination of DNA analyses and acoustic sampling showed that adult Sockeye spawners in the Seton/Anderson watershed formed two distinct subpopulations of O. nerka, Gates Creek spawners and Portage Creek spawners. O. nerka caught in Anderson Lake were a mixture of Gwenish and Gates Creek Sockeye salmon. In Seton Lake, Gates Creek Sockeye salmon were the most common fish, followed by Portage Creek Sockeye salmon and then Gwenish. Spring and early summer migration of Gates Creek sockeye from Anderson Lake, through Portage Creek and into Seton Lake, that was documented in the late 1950’s and early 1970’s also occurred in 2014.