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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 57(1)

Catchment characteristics and chemical limnology of small lakes, tarns and mire pools in New Zealand (South Island) and Tasmania

Koenraad Vanhoutte A C , Elie Verleyen A , Cathy Kilroy B , Koen Sabbe A , Renaat Dasseville A and Wim Vyverman A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Laboratory of Protistology and Aquatic Ecology, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281-S8, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium.

B National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Ltd., PO Box 8602, Christchurch, New Zealand.

C Corresponding author. Email: koen.vanhoutte@usa.net

Marine and Freshwater Research 57(1) 83-93 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF04276
Submitted: 18 November 2004  Accepted: 11 October 2005   Published: 17 January 2006

Abstract

Small alpine water bodies can play a large role in defining patterns of biological and landscape diversity, and may be particularly sensitive to climate change. A large limnological dataset, consisting of 65 and 6 water bodies, respectively, on South Island and Stewart Island (New Zealand) and 76 and 12 water bodies, respectively, in the Tasmanian highlands and coastal areas (Australia), was constructed to assess patterns of variation in alpine and subalpine lakes in the Australasian region. With the exception of the coastal systems, most lakes were very dilute. In general, lake water chemistry resembled world average seawater cationic ratios (WASW). In addition, some New Zealand lakes fell close to the world average freshwater cationic ratios (WAFW), due to relatively high calcium concentrations, and some were dominated by magnesium due to the presence of serpentine bedrock in the catchment area. Multivariate analyses of the joint dataset revealed that the variation in chemical limnological variables was dominated by gradients in conductivity, pH and gilvin. The concurrent relationships between pH, calcium and gilvin, which enabled the differentiation of Tasmanian water bodies into limnological provinces, were absent in New Zealand. In the latter, pH and gilvin contents were not coincident, as clear-water acidic systems occurred in New Zealand. The higher diversity of freshwater bodies in New Zealand will enable independent assessment of the effects of pH and gilvin on the distribution and diversity of biota.

Extra keywords: alpine lakes, humic substances.


Acknowledgments

Financial support for this work was provided by the Australian Biological Resources Study (Diversity, Ecology and Biogeography of Australian Freshwater Diatoms) and Fonds voor Kollectief Fundamenteel Onderzoek (FKFO) project no. G.0292.00. K. Sabbe is a Senior Research Fellow with the Fund for Scientific Research – Flanders (FWO-Flanders, Belgium). Elie Verleyen is a Senior Research Fellow with the Fund for Scientific Research – Flanders (FWO-Flanders, Belgium). Cathy Kilroy was funded in the current study by the New Zealand Foundation for Research, Science and Technology (Contract No. C01X0219). Wim Vyverman received a visiting scientist grant from NIWA. We thank Greg Kelly for preparing the map. We thank two anonymous referees for reading the manuscript.


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