CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
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Author : Douglas, M.; Keatley, B.; Lim, D.; Michelutti, N.; Quinlan, R.; Smol, J.; and Antoniades, D.
Date : 2005.
Title : Paleolimnological perspectives on long-term environmental change in the Canadian High Arctic.
Publication : PAGES Second Open Science Meeting "Paleoclimate, Environmental Sustainability and Our Future". 10-12 August 2005, Beijing, China.
Issue :
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Abstract
Although lakes and ponds characterize most arctic regions (about 18% of Canada’s surface waters are north of 60°N), and are important sentinels of environmental change, very few long-term data are available, and so indirect proxy methods must be used in lieu of these missing data sets. We have been applying both present-day limnological techniques as well as paleolimnological approaches to study long-term environmental change throughout the Canadian Arctic Archipelago (islands north of the Canadian mainland). Our data show that lakes in different settings follow different ecosystem trajectories, dependent on local and regional factors such as geological and climate characteristics. However, it is now becoming increasingly clear that marked limnological changes have been occurring in many arctic lakes and ponds over the last ca. 150 years that appear to be related to climatic warming. These changes are manifested as changes in community composition of the primary (algal) and secondary (e.g., invertebrate) producers. In some extreme cases, usually in the higher latitude sites, complete species turnovers have been documented. Furthermore, as a result of global transport of pollutants and the effects of climate warming, both of which are magnified in polar regions, these lakes and ponds deserve much more attention, as they are critical bellwethers of environmental change. Paleolimnological and archeological data also show how lakes have been affected by human disturbances at much longer time scales, such as nutrient inputs from Thule Inuit whaling camps abandoned centuries ago. We summarize some of our key findings from two decades of paleoecological research in the Canadian High Arctic.
Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology