Free Standard AU & NZ Shipping For All Book Orders Over $80!
Register      Login
Marine and Freshwater Research Marine and Freshwater Research Society
Advances in the aquatic sciences
Shopping Cart: ( empty )
You are here: Home > Journals > MF > MF04276
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.


References

APHA (1998). ‘Standard Methods for the Analysis of Water and Wastewater.’ 20th edn. (American Public Health Association: Washington, DC.)

Barker, S. L. L. , Kim, J. P. , Craw, D. , Frew, R. D. , and Hunter, K. A. (2004). Processes affecting the chemical composition of Blue Lake, an alluvial gold-mine pit lake in New Zealand. Marine and Freshwater Research 55, 201–211.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | Barlow B. A. (1986). ‘Flora and Fauna of Alpine Australasia: Ages and Origins.’ (CSIRO Publishing: Melbourne.)

Boulton A. J., and Brock M. A. (1999). ‘Australian Freshwater Ecology: Processes and Management.’ (Gleneagles Publishing: Adelaide.)

Bowling, L. C. , Banks, M. R. , Croome, R. L. , and Tyler, P. A. (1993). Reconnaissance limnology of Tasmania.2. Limnological features of Tasmanian freshwater coastal lagoons. Archiv für Hydrobiologie 126, 385–403.
Davies-Colley R. J., Vant W. N., and Smith D. G. (1993). ‘Colour and Clarity of Natural Waters. Science and Management of Optical Water Quality.’ (Ellis Horwood: Chichester.)

Downes M. (2001). NIWA Christchurch auto-analyser methods. NIWA Internal Report No. 103. NIWA, Christchurch.

Dring M. J. (1982). ‘The Biology of Marine Plants.’ (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.)

Gell, P. A. , Bulpin, S. , Wallbrink, P. , Hancock, G. , and Bickford, S. (2005). Tareena Billabong – a palaeolimnological history of an ever-changing wetland, Chowilla Floodplain, lower Murray-Darling Basin, Australia. Marine and Freshwater Research 56, 441–456.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | Juggins S. (2002). European Diatom Database. http://craticula.ncl.ac.uk:8000/Eddi/jsp/index.jsp.

Leavitt, P. R. , Cumming, B. F. , Smol, J. P. , Reasoner, M. , Pienitz, R. , and Hodgson, D. A. (2003). Climatic control of ultraviolet radiation effects on lakes. Limnology and Oceanography 48(5), 2062–2069.
Livingston M. E., Biggs B. J., and Gifford J. S. (1986). Inventory of New Zealand lakes. Part II. South Island. Water and Soil Miscellaneous Publication No. 81, Wellington.

Lowe D. J., and Green J. D. (1987). Origins and development of the lakes. In ‘Inland Waters of New Zealand’. (Ed. A. B. Viner.) pp. 1–64. (DSIR Sciences Information Publishing Centre: Wellington.)

McGlone, M. S. , Duncan, R. P. , and Heenan, P. B. (2001). Endemism, species selection and the origin and distribution of the vascular plant flora of New Zealand. Journal of Biogeography 28, 199–216.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | Molloy L. (1988). ‘Soils in the New Zealand Landscape. The Living Mantle.’ (Mallinson Rendel Publishers Ltd.: Wellington.)

Neter J., Kutner M. H., Nachtsheim C. J., and Wasserman W. (1996). ‘Applied Linear Statistical Models.’ 4th edn. (McGraw-Hill: Boston, MA.)

Newsome P. F. J. (1992). New Zealand land resource inventory Arc/Info data manual. 1st edn, May 1992. DSIR Land Resources Technical Record 81. Landcare Research New Zealand Ltd, Victoria.

Pienitz, R. , Smol, J. P. , and Lean, D. R. S. (1997). Physical and chemical limnology of 59 lakes located between the Southern Yukon and the Tuktoyaktuk Peninsula, Northwest Territories (Canada). Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 54, 330–346.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | Statsoft Inc. (2000). ‘Statistica for Windows (Computer Program Manual).’ (Tulsa, OK.)

Sturman A., and Spronken-Smith R. (Eds) (2001).‘The Physical Environment: a New Zealand Perspective.’ (Oxford University Press: Victoria.)

ter Braak C. J. F., and Smilauer P. (2002). ‘CANOCO Reference Manual and CanoDraw for Windows User's Guide: Software for Canonical Ordination (Version 4.5).’ (Microcomputer Power: Ithaca, NY.)

Timperley M. H. (1987). Regional influences on lake water chemistry. In ‘Inland Waters of New Zealand’. (Ed. A. B. Viner.) pp. 97–111. (DSIR Sciences Information Publishing Centre: Wellington.)

Trewick, S. A. , and Wallis, G. P. (2001). Bridging the ‘beech-gap’: New Zealand invertebrate phylogeography implicates pleistocene glaciation and pliocene isolation. Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution 55(11), 2170–2180.
| PubMed | Wardle P. (1991). ‘Vegetation of New Zealand.’ (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.)

Wei Y., Reavis J., Meadows C., Woung L., and Greenlee J. (1998). Are you reporting valid TOC numbers? The importance of analytical methods and NOM characteristics in TOC reporting. In ‘Proceedings of 1998 Water Quality Technology Conference.’ (Texas.)

Wetzel R. G. (2001). ‘Limnology: Lake and River Ecosystems.’ (Academic Press: San Diego, CA.)

Wheeler, B. D. , and Proctor, M. C. F. (2000). Ecological gradients, subdivisions and terminology of North-West European mires. Journal of Ecology 88, 187–203.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | Zar J. H. (1984). ‘Biostatistical Analysis.’ (Prentice-Hall Inc.: Englewood Cliffs, NJ.)