USE OF WATER CLARITY TO MONITOR THE EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND OTHER STRESSORS ON OLIGOTROPHIC LAKES

摘要

We present evidence from studies of lakes in Killarney Park, Ontario, Canada that water clarity is a key variable for monitoring the effects of climate change, high UV exposure and acidifica- tion. In small oligotrophic lakes, these stressors affect water clarity primarily by altering the concen- tration of DOC in lake water. Clear lakes(<2 mg L~-1 DOC)proved to be highly sensitive indicators of stressors, exhibiting large thermal and optical responses to small changes in DOC.