Multi-Elements in Waters and Sediments of Shallow Lakes: Relationships with Water, Sediment, and Watershed Characteristics

• Published in: Wetlands (Wilmington, N.C.) Vol. 35; no. 3; pp. 443 - 457
• Main Authors: Kissoon, La Toya T., Jacob, Donna L., Hanson, Mark A., Herwig, Brian R., Bowe, Shane E., Otte, Marinus L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.06.2015; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aquatic plants; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Chemistry; Chlorophyll; Coastal Sciences; Ecology; Environmental Management; Expected values; Forests; Freshwater & Marine Ecology; Geology; Hydrogeology; Laboratories; Lake morphology; Lake sediments; Lakes; Land cover; Land use; Landscape Ecology; Life Sciences; Mixed forests; Organic matter; Original Research; Particle size; Physical characteristics; Plankton; Rare earth elements; Redundancy; Sediments; Topography; Turbidity; Water quality; Watersheds; Woodlands; United States > US; Minnesota; Trace elements; Rare earth elements; Land cover; Redundancy analysis; Shallow lake
• ISSN: 0277-5212; 1943-6246
• DOI: 10.1007/s13157-015-0632-8

We measured concentrations of multiple elements, including rare earth elements, in waters and sediments of 38 shallow lakes of varying turbidity and macrophyte cover in the Prairie Parkland (PP) and Laurentian Mixed Forest (LMF) provinces of Minnesota. PP shallow lakes had higher element concentrations in waters and sediments compared to LMF sites. Redundancy analysis indicated that a combination of site- and watershed-scale features explained a large proportion of among-lake variability in element concentrations in lake water and sediments. Percent woodland cover in watersheds, turbidity, open water area, and macrophyte cover collectively explained 65.2 % of variation in element concentrations in lake waters. Sediment fraction smaller than 63 μm, percent woodland in watersheds, open water area, and sediment organic matter collectively explained 64.2 % of variation in element concentrations in lake sediments. In contrast to earlier work on shallow lakes, our results showed the extent to which multiple elements in shallow lake waters and sediments were influenced by a combination of variables including sediment characteristics, lake morphology, and percent land cover in watersheds. These results are informative because they help illustrate the extent of functional connectivity between shallow lakes and adjacent lands within these lake watersheds.