Quantifying the effects of hydrological changes on long-term water quality trends in temperate reservoirs: insights from a multi-scale, paleolimnological study

Elchyshyn, Leanne; Goyette, Jean-Olivier; Saulnier‐Talbot, Émilie; Maranger, Roxane; Nozais, Christian; Solomon, Christopher T.; Gregory‐Eaves, Irene

doi:10.1007/s10933-018-0027-y

Cited by 10 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…Predicted climate changes suggest that winter water level regulation may progressively carry over into summer months (Magee et al 2019). To understand the ecological effects of such a shift, we strongly recommend that water levels be monitored year-round, as recent evidence suggests summer water level fluctuations impact water quality more (e.g., cyanobacteria blooms; Bakker and Hilt 2016) than winter drawdowns (Elchyshyn et al 2018). Integrating knowledge of the natural range of variability of unregulated lake levels over long time scales (i.e., decades; Hofmann et al 2008, Molinos et al 2015) could help to predict future water level changes in regulated lakes within similar hydromorphic characteristics and direct management to mitigate and anticipate related water quality issues (Lisi and Hein 2019).…”

Section: Data Needs and Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrology of annual winter water level drawdown regimes in recreational lakes of Massachusetts, United States

Carmignani

Roy

Stolarski

et al. 2021

Lake and Reservoir Management

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Annual winter water level drawdown (WD) is a common lake management strategy to maintain recreational value by controlling nuisance macrophytes and preventing ice damage to shoreline infrastructure in lakes of the northeastern United States. The state of Massachusetts provides general guidelines for lake managers to implement and practice WDs. However, WD management reporting is not required and as such empirical water level records are scarce, making it difficult to assess guideline adherence and link these management actions to littoral habitat conditions. We monitored water levels bihourly in 18 lakes with ongoing WD regimes and 3 non-drawdown lakes over 3-4 yr. Our results show an interlake drawdown magnitude gradient of 0.07-2.66 m with intralake consistency across years. Corresponding WD magnitudes generated exposure of 1.3-37.6% for entire lakebeds and 9.2-71.1% for littoral zones. WD durations averaged 171 d and ranged widely from 5 to 246 d. Longer recession and refill phase durations and faster recession rates were moderately to strongly correlated with drawdown magnitudes. WDs were predominantly initiated prior to the state of Massachusetts 1 November starting guideline (83.1%) and refilled to summer reference levels after the recommended date of 1 April (70.6%). To minimize ecological impacts while still meeting recreational goals, WD performance guidelines may require a more fine-scale approach that integrates local hydrogeomorphic features and the presence of WD-sensitive littoral biotic assemblages. However, climate change model projections of warmer and wetter winters in the Northeast indicate increasing uncertainty for WD as an effective and worthwhile macrophyte control tool.

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Section: Data Needs and Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrology of annual winter water level drawdown regimes in recreational lakes of Massachusetts, United States

Carmignani

Roy

Stolarski

et al. 2021

Lake and Reservoir Management

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The WD metrics provide new insights into the characteristics of this artificial hydrologic alteration across MA lakes. A few studies have analyzed drawdown trends for groups of lakes in particular regions [2,59]. Some drawdown studies have calculated similar water-level metrics using in situ data [1,2], but the remote sensing-derived measurements allow assessment at broader scales.…”

Section: Variability In Wd Characteristics In Ma Lakesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Multi-Sensor Approach to Characterize Winter Water-Level Drawdown Patterns in Lakes

Kumar,

Roy,

Andreadis

et al. 2024

Remote Sensing

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Artificial manipulation of lake water levels through practices like winter water-level drawdown (WD) is prevalent across many regions, but the spatiotemporal patterns are not well documented due to limited in situ monitoring. Multi-sensor satellite remote sensing provides an opportunity to map and analyze drawdown frequency and metrics (timing, magnitude, duration) at broad scales. This study developed a cloud computing framework to process time series of synthetic aperture radar (Sentinel 1-SAR) and optical sensor (Landsat 8, Sentinel 2) data to characterize WD in 166 lakes across Massachusetts, USA, during 2016–2021. Comparisons with in situ logger data showed that the Sentinel 1-derived surface water area captured relative water-level fluctuations indicative of WD. A machine learning approach classified lakes as WD versus non-WD based on seasonal water-level fluctuations derived from Sentinel 1-SAR data. The framework mapped WD lakes statewide, revealing prevalence throughout Massachusetts with interannual variability. Results showed WDs occurred in over 75% of lakes during the study period, with high interannual variability in the number of lakes conducting WD. Mean WD magnitude was highest in the wettest year (2018) but % lake area exposure did not show any association with precipitation and varied between 8% to 12% over the 5-year period. WD start date was later and duration was longer in wet years, indicating climate mediation of WD implementation driven by management decisions. The data and tools developed provide an objective information resource to evaluate ecological impacts and guide management of this prevalent but understudied phenomenon. Overall, the results and interactive web tool developed as part of this study provide new hydrologic intelligence to inform water management and policies related to WD practices.

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“…More recently, Wengrat et al (2018) evaluated patterns of spatial and temporal biodiversity in seven tropical reservoirs in Brazil, concluding that eutrophication leads to homogenization of the diatom assemblage, with significant loss of species over time. Despite the increased interest in reservoir paleolimnology (Tibby et al 2010;Liu et al 2012;Elchyshyn et al 2018), few studies focus on implications for management, and the magnitude of environmental change in reservoirs is poorly understood relative to natural waterbodies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the degree of ecological change and baselines for reservoirs: challenges and implications for management

Wengrat

Bennion

Ferreira³

et al. 2019

J Paleolimnol

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Tropical reservoirs are sensitive to eutrophication but long-term impacts of impoundment on their productivity and biota are poorly understood. Here, we employ a palaeolimnological approach to assess whether ecological baselines can be defined for reservoirs, and examine the challenges and management implications. We studied the environmental history of five reservoirs in Brazil with different productivities, using sediment records covering the period since reservoir construction (* 50-90 years). Our main goals, based on the analysis of organic geochemistry (TOC, TN, TP, C:N), stable isotopes Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (

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Quantifying the effects of hydrological changes on long-term water quality trends in temperate reservoirs: insights from a multi-scale, paleolimnological study

Cited by 10 publications

References 47 publications

Hydrology of annual winter water level drawdown regimes in recreational lakes of Massachusetts, United States

Hydrology of annual winter water level drawdown regimes in recreational lakes of Massachusetts, United States

A Multi-Sensor Approach to Characterize Winter Water-Level Drawdown Patterns in Lakes

Assessing the degree of ecological change and baselines for reservoirs: challenges and implications for management

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