Grantee Research Project Results
Final Report: The Role of Long-Lived Zooplankton Diapausing Eggs Response and Recovery of Impacted Lakes
EPA Grant Number: R824771Title: The Role of Long-Lived Zooplankton Diapausing Eggs Response and Recovery of Impacted Lakes
Investigators: Hairston Jr., Nelson G. , Mills, Edward L.
Institution: Cornell University
EPA Project Officer: Packard, Benjamin H
Project Period: March 1, 1996 through February 1, 1999
Project Amount: $350,000
RFA: Water and Watersheds (1995) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Watersheds , Water
Objective:
This research is an investigation of the role that long-lived dormant eggs of zooplankton play in influencing the ability of lake ecosystems to recover from human impact. To this end, we explored the diversity, abundance, age and viability of zooplankton dormant eggs in two lakes in New York State, one that has a long history of heavy metal pollution (Onondaga Lake), and another (our "reference" Oneida Lake) that is relatively unimpacted.Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):
Two exotic Daphnia species were found in the sediments of Onondaga Lake exclusively during the period of peak pollution (Hairston et al. 1999a, Duffy et al. 2000). These were Daphnia exilis, which has only previously been described from shallow, fishless, saline lakes west of the Mississippi River, and D. curvirostris, which is native to saline coastal lakes in Europe. It is likely that the increase in salinity caused by industrial pollution made Onondaga Lake habitable for these species.
Native Daphnia species from Onondaga Lake, D. pulicaria, D. ambigua, and D. galeata mendotae were absent during the period of peak pollution by heavy metals, and were replaced by exotics. They are present in lake sediments deposited prior to 1900, but are absent from the early part of this century until about 1990, when they reappear. At the sediment depths that these species are absent, D. exilis and D. curvirostris diapausing eggs become abundant. The native species currently cause a marked "clear-water phase" during May of each year when they cause a marked decline in primary producer biomass. During the 1960s and 1970s, when the exotic species were present, a clear-water phase was also present, but occurred much later in the summer due to a different seasonal phenology with maximum abundance in August for D. exilis and D. curvirostris.
The data from the cores from the reference lake (Oneida Lake) show no invasions by exotics, nor do they show the extended period of absence of the native Daphnia. There are interesting patterns of species replacements over periods on the order of decades that have important implications for the coexistence of species in changing environments, however (Hairston 1996, 1998; Hairston & Caceres 1996).
Three traps at the shallow site and three at the deep site had a mechanism installed that permitted the sediment below the trap to be stirred to investigate the effect of sediment disturbance on hatching timing and rate. We found that hatching rates of Daphnia did not differ between treatments, but that hatching extended later into the summer in stirred traps. This shows that human impacts on sediment dynamics may have a significant impact on the role that the egg bank plays in zooplankton communities.
Sediment emergence traps were deployed at two sites in Onondaga Lake. Only D. galeata mendotae was found in the traps, even though eggs of five species of Daphnia occur in the lake sediments, and even though a few D. pulicaria were found in the water column of the lake in late summer. As in Oneida Lake, hatching occurred principally in May and June, although there was a return to some hatching after fall turnover. Sediment stirring increased hatching from the egg bank in Oneida Lake, but had no measurable effect in Onondaga Lake.
Several other collaborations have come out of this project including a paper on (1) the role of diapausing egg banks in the coexistence of competing copepod species in German lakes (Santer et al. 2000), which is an idea presented previously for copepods by Hairston and Bohonak (1998), (2) the record of fish introductions in high mountain lakes in Austria (Perry et al., manuscript), and (3) the record of phosphorus inputs to Cayuga Lake (Hairston et al., submitted).
Journal Articles on this Report : 9 Displayed | Download in RIS Format
Other project views: | All 20 publications | 10 publications in selected types | All 9 journal articles |
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Duffy MA, Perry LJ, Kearns CM, Weider LJ, Hairston NG. Paleogenetic evidence for a past invasion of Onondaga Lake, New York, by exotic Daphnia curvirostris using mtDNA from dormant eggs. Limnology and Oceanography 2000;45(6):1409-1414. |
R824771 (1998) R824771 (Final) |
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Ellner SP, Hairston NG, Kearns CM, Babai D. The roles of fluctuating selection and long-term diapause in microevolution of diapause timing in a freshwater copepod. Evolution 1999;53(1):111-122. |
R824771 (1998) R824771 (Final) |
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Hairston Jr. NG. Zooplankton egg banks as biotic reservoirs in changing environments. Limnology and Oceanography 1996;41(5):1087-1092. |
R824771 (1998) R824771 (Final) |
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Hairston Jr. NG, Bohonak AJ. Copepod reproductive strategies: life-history theory, phylogenetic pattern and invasion of inland waters. Journal of Marine Systems 1998;15(1-4):23-34. |
R824771 (1998) R824771 (Final) |
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Hairston Jr. NG, Perry LJ, Bohonak AJ, Fellows MQ, Kearns CM, Engstrom DR. Population biology of a failed invasion:paleolimnology of Daphnia exilis in upstate New York. Limnology and Oceanography 1999;44(3):477-486. |
R824771 (1998) R824771 (Final) |
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Hairston Jr. NG, Hansen A-M, Schaffner WR. The effect of diapause emergence on the seasonal dynamics of a zooplankton assemblage. Freshwater Biology 2000;45(2):133-145. |
R824771 (1998) R824771 (Final) |
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Hairston Jr. NG. Time travelers:what's timely in diapause research. Archiv für Hydrobiologie-Advances in Limnology 1998;52:1-15. |
R824771 (1998) R824771 (Final) |
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Hairston Jr. NG, Lampert W, Caceres CE, Holtmeier CL, Weider LJ, Gaedke U, Fischer JM, Fox JA, Post DM. Lake ecosystems: rapid evolution revealed by dormant eggs. Nature 1999;401(6752):446. |
R824771 (1998) R824771 (Final) |
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Santer B, Blohm-Sievers E, Caceres CE, Hairston Jr. NG. Life-history variation in the coexisting freshwater copepods Eudiaptomus gracilis and Eudiaptomus graciloides. Archiv für Hydrobiologie 2000;149(3):441-458. |
R824771 (1998) R824771 (Final) |
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Supplemental Keywords:
ecological effects, vulnerability, sensitive populations, genetic polymorphisms, chemicals, toxics, aquatic, remediation, cleanup, biology, ecology, genetics, limnology, zoology, northeast, New York, NY, EPA Region 2, industry., RFA, Scientific Discipline, Toxics, Water, Waste, Geographic Area, Ecosystem Protection/Environmental Exposure & Risk, Water & Watershed, Limnology, National Recommended Water Quality, Ecosystem/Assessment/Indicators, Ecosystem Protection, exploratory research environmental biology, Chemical Mixtures - Environmental Exposure & Risk, Contaminated Sediments, Environmental Chemistry, State, Chemistry, Ecological Effects - Environmental Exposure & Risk, Ecological Effects - Human Health, Biology, Watersheds, Ecological Indicators, Mercury, EPA Region, ecological exposure, aquatic, anthropogenic disturbances, freshwater ecosystems, contaminated sediment, restoration of lakes, mercury loading, zooplankton diapausing eggs, lakes, diapausing egg response, aquatic ecosystems, response and recovery of impacted lakes, lake sediment, aquatic ecology, Region 2, freshwater ecosystem, zooplankton, heavy metals, egg hatch rates, lake ecosystemsRelevant Websites:
Progress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.