Logging disturbances in boreal forest watersheds can alter biogeochemical processes in soils by changing forest composition, plant uptake rates, soil conditions, moisture and temperature regimes, soil microbial activity, and water fluxes. In general, these changes have often led to short-term increases in soil nutrient availability followed by increased mobility and losses by leaching to receiving waters. Among the studies we reviewed, dissolved organic carbon (DOC) exports usually increased after logging, and nitrogen (N) mineralization and nitrification often increased with resulting increased N availability and exports to receiving waters. Similar processes and responses occurred for phosphorus (P), but to a lesser extent than for N. In most cases, base cations were released and exported to receiving waters after logging. Several studies demonstrated that stem-only or partial-harvest logging reduced the impacts on nutrient release and exports in comparison to whole-tree clear-cutting. Despite these logging-induced increases in soil nutrient availability and movement to receiving waters, most studies reported little or no change in soil chemical properties. However, responses to logging were highly variable and often site specific. The likelihood, extent and magnitude of logging impacts on soil nutrient cycling and exports in boreal forest watersheds will be dependent on soil types, stand and site conditions, hydrological connectivity, post-logging weather patterns, and type and timing of harvest activities. Additionally, logging impacts can interact with, and be confounded by, atmospheric pollutant deposition and climate change. Further watershed-level empirical studies and modeling efforts are required to elucidate these interactions, to improve predictive capabilities, and to advance forest management guidelines for sustaining forest soil productivity and limiting nutrient exports.Résumé : Les perturbations causées par la récolte du bois dans les bassins versants de la forêt boréale peuvent affecter les processus biochimiques des sols en modifiant la composition de la forêt, les taux d'absorption par les plantes, les conditions du sol, les régimes de température et d'humidité, l'activité des microorganismes du sol, et les mouvements de l'eau. En général, ces modifications engendrent souvent des augmentations de courte durée de la disponibilité des nutriments du sol, suivi par une augmentation de la mobilité et des pertes par lessivage vers les eaux réceptrices. Les études analysées font état d'une augmentation des exportations de carbone organique dissout (DOC) après la coupe, et d'une minéralisation de l'azote (N) avec une augmentation fréquente de la nitrification conduisant à une augmentation de la disponibilité de N et son exportation vers les eaux réceptrices. On observe des processus et réactions similaires pour le phosphore (P), mais à un moindre degré que pour le N. Dans la plupart des cas, il y a relâchement des cations basiques et exportation vers les eaux réceptrices après la coupe. Plusieurs étud...

We used end-of-summer temperature profiles to examine the thermal structure of 86 small (Ͻ500 ha) lakes in Killarney Park, Ontario, Canada, during one cool (1997) and two extremely warm years (1998 and 1999). The main effect of the warm years, which had unusually high air temperatures during the spring, relative to the cool year was to create warmer surface waters, shallower mixing depths, and stronger metalimnetic thermal gradients in nearly all lakes. Changes in deep water temperatures differed between clear (DOC Ͻ 2 mg L Ϫ1 ) and colored (DOC Ͼ 4 mg L Ϫ1 ) lakes. During warm years, the volume of cold water (Ͻ10ЊC) was reduced in clear lakes. In colored lakes, deep water temperatures were more stable, and cold water volume actually increased during one warm year. We suggest that clear lakes will be more sensitive than colored lakes to the warming effects of climate change. Because clear lakes exhibit large thermal changes in response to small differences in DOC, they will also be more sensitive to changes in DOC levels associated with altered hydrological inputs, climate change, or acidification.

This paper reviews the growing literature dealing with the antagonistic effect of selenium (Se) compounds on the toxicity of mercury (Hg) compounds in higher animals and organisms present in the aquatic environment. It covers both laboratory and field studies and summarizes the possible mechanisms that explain the protective action of Se compounds on mercuric mercury (Hg2+) and methylmercury (CH3Hg+) toxicity. The review is subdivided according to the molecular form of Hg and the organisms in which the antagonism has been studied. Many authors suggest that the protective effect of selenite on the toxicity of Hg2+in mammals is due mainly to the in vivo formation of mercuric selenide (HgSe), a stable and biologically inert complex. The detection of HgSe has been confirmed in several studies in support of this mechanism. Possible mechanisms that may be involved in the antagonism between Se compounds and CH3Hg+in mammals and aquatic organisms are also presented. The possibility of adding Se compounds to contaminated lakes and reservoirs as a remediation technique to limit the bioaccumulation of Hg2+and CH3Hg+is critically discussed.

Theory predicts, and some evidence demonstrates that in lakes, the depth of the thermocline can have a large structural influence on the spatial distribution, and strongly influences the composition of plankton communities. However, experimental assessments of responses of the planktonic food web to thermocline depth have not yet been done at the whole-basin scale. We conducted an experiment wherein we artificially lowered the thermocline in an isolated basin of a three-basin lake, maintaining another isolated basin as a control. The vertical distribution and taxonomic composition of both phytoplankton and zooplankton were monitored throughout the summer months. Greater phytoplankton production, especially in the epilimnion, attributable mainly to increases in the chlorophytes was observed with thermocline deepening, but at the deepest thermoclines, production was limited. Total zooplankton biomass was unaffected by thermocline depth, suggesting top-down control by predators. Zooplankton biomass peaks were less pronounced in the manipulated basin, but tended to follow the thermocline whether at its normal position or as it was deepened. Zooplankton composition was significantly altered by large increases in densities of predatory cyclopoid copepods and rotifers; taxa commonly found in turbulent environments. Overall, both phytoplankton and zooplankton communities demonstrated important shifts in structure and composition in response to thermocline deepening.

Aquatic ecosystems are fuelled by biogeochemical inputs from surrounding lands and within-lake primary production. Disturbances that change these inputs may affect how aquatic ecosystems function and deliver services vital to humans. Here we test, using a forest cover gradient across eight separate catchments, whether disturbances that remove terrestrial biomass lower organic matter inputs into freshwater lakes, thereby reducing food web productivity. We focus on deltas formed at the stream-lake interface where terrestrial-derived particulate material is deposited. We find that organic matter export increases from more forested catchments, enhancing bacterial biomass. This transfers energy upwards through communities of heavier zooplankton, leading to a fourfold increase in weights of planktivorous young-of-the-year fish. At least 34% of fish biomass is supported by terrestrial primary production, increasing to 66% with greater forest cover. Habitat tracers confirm fish were closely associated with individual catchments, demonstrating that watershed protection and restoration increase biomass in critical life-stages of fish.

There is widespread evidence that aquatic consumers use terrestrial resources depending on the features of surrounding catchments.

In the mid-twentieth century, many lakes near Sudbury, Canada, were severely contaminated by acid and metal emissions from local smelters. For example, in the early 1970s, Middle Lake had pH of 4.2, and Cu and Ni levels both >0.5 mg L )1 . To determine if crustacean zooplankton could recover from such severe and chronic damage, Middle Lake was neutralized in 1973. A comparison of its zooplankton with that of 22 reference (pH > 6) lakes indicates that the planktonic Copepoda completely recovered by 2001. In contrast, the cladoceran assemblage improved but did not recover. Colonist sources existed -Cladocera and Copepoda occurred with equal frequency in area lakes -but six separate colonizations by cladoceran species failed. We argue that local factors, metal toxicity and predation by yellow perch, have, to date, prevented cladoceran recovery. Nonetheless, the complete copepod recovery is encouraging, given the severity and duration of pre-neutralization stress.

Time trends in abundance, body size, species richness, and species composition indicate that crustacean zooplankton communities of southern Canadian Shield lakes changed between 1980 and 2003. Total abundance did not decline despite reductions in total phosphorus, but all other metrics changed. Species richness declined in Harp Lake (Ontario, Canada) following its Bythotrephes invasion, but richness increased in three other lakes. Average cladoceran body length increased from 0.6 to 1.0 mm in seven of the lakes, as larger-bodied taxa replaced smaller ones. Correlations with water quality and fish metrics suggest that cladoceran size increases were attributable to many factors: a decline in food availability following declining phosphorus levels increasing the competitive advantage of larger herbivores, a decline in acidity favouring the larger, acid-sensitive daphniids, and reduced risk of planktivory linked to a rise in dissolved organic carbon levels and changes in predation regimes. Zooplankton communities on the Canadian Shield are changing, and these changes are best viewed in a multiple-stressor context. Key anthropogenic stressors have also changed and may do so again if Ca concentrations continue to decline.