Geology topics

Anne E. Giblin

Publications and source records attributed to Anne E. Giblin.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2026

Ecological stability of zooplankton communities in changing arctic lakes over three decades

In the Arctic, rapid warming is altering disturbance regimes, creating an urgent need to assess the ecological stability of these relatively pristine ecosystems. The Arctic landscape has thousands of lakes that are experiencing both gradual, persistent disturbances (e.g., warming) and increased frequency and intensity of pulse disturbances (e.g., land-surface failures). To assess the ecological stability of lake communities in a changing environment, we analyzed long-term data (14–39 years) on zooplankton communities and environmental variables from 25 lakes in arctic Alaska. We characterized long-term change and evaluated the resistance and recovery of communities to natural or experimental disturbances. We hypothesized that reference lakes would demonstrate resistance to background environmental change, represented by variable but consistent relative abundances over time, while manipulated or disturbed lakes would show recovery after the disturbance ceased, as represented by directional changes in relative abundance with return to pre-disturbance conditions. Environmental variables including water conductivity, chlorophyll- a , NO 3 − , pH, dissolved oxygen, light extinction, and soluble reactive phosphorus changed directionally through time, suggesting press effects due to climate change. Zooplankton communities were resistant to environmental change in undisturbed lakes, but, despite monitoring lakes for up to 28 years after disturbance, few lakes showed evidence of recovery to pre-disturbance conditions. This lack of recovery may indicate shifting baselines due to environmental change. The variation we did observe was largely due to shifts in species relative abundance rather than in species turnover, and this variability was related to lake depth. Zooplankton communities and environmental variables displayed more interannual variation in shallow (depth ≤ 6 m) lakes than in deep lakes. Overall, our results demonstrate that arctic zooplankton communities have high resistance to the effects of climate change but potentially low recovery or long recovery times to pulse disturbances.

Alaska↗

USGS2025

Rapid recovery of an arctic lake ecosystem from a pulse disturbance caused by thermokarst failure

Due to rapid climate change, arctic ecosystems are experiencing an increase in disturbances including localized land-surface failures caused by melting ground ice (thermokarst failures). These failures result in the mass transport of sediment and organic materials into surface waters, with the potential to dramatically alter aquatic ecosystem function and biotic interactions. We coupled direct comparisons and long-term data of a suite of abiotic and biotic variables in a thermokarst-impacted lake and nearby reference lake to assess the impacts of thermokarst failure. After the thermokarst failure and relative to long-term averages, water transparency was substantially reduced. We hypothesized there would be subsequent changes to lower trophic levels and profound declines in fish foraging efficiency. However, these characteristics were within the range of natural variability and/or rapidly recovered to values within the range of long-term variability. In addition, although there was limited evidence of taxa-specific changes, we did not observe any strong changes in the total relative densities, growth rates, or composition of the bacterioplankton and zooplankton communities, benthic macroinvertebrates, or changes in fish diet, that could be attributed statistically to the thermokarst event. In sum, the thermokarst disturbance had substantial effects on water transparency and some lower trophic levels, which surprisingly were not manifested in higher trophic levels. Overall, the lake ecosystem appeared resistant to thermokarst disturbance with rapid recovery within two years after the disturbance.

Alaska↗

USGS2021

Understanding the effects of climate change via disturbance on pristine arctic lakes — Multitrophic level response and recovery to a 12-yr, low-level fertilization experiment

Effects of climate change-driven disturbance on lake ecosystems can be subtle; indirect effects include increased nutrient loading that could impact ecosystem function. We designed a low-level fertilization experiment to mimic persistent, climate change-driven disturbances (deeper thaw, greater weathering, or thermokarst failure) delivering nutrients to arctic lakes. We measured responses of pelagic trophic levels over 12 yr in a fertilized deep lake with fish and a shallow fishless lake, compared to paired reference lakes, and monitored recovery for 6 yr. Relative to prefertilization in the deep lake, we observed a maximum pelagic response in chl a (+201%), dissolved oxygen (DO, −43%), and zooplankton biomass (+88%) during the fertilization period (2001–2012). Other responses to fertilization, such as water transparency and fish relative abundance, were delayed, but both ultimately declined. Phyto- and zooplankton biomass and community composition shifted with fertilization. The effects of fertilization were less pronounced in the paired shallow lakes, because of a natural thermokarst failure likely impacting the reference lake. In the deep lake there was (a) moderate resistance to change in ecosystem functions at all trophic levels, (b) eventual responses were often nonlinear, and (c) postfertilization recovery (return) times were most rapid at the base of the food web (2–4 yr) while higher trophic levels failed to recover after 6 yr. The timing and magnitude of responses to fertilization in these arctic lakes were similar to responses in other lakes, suggesting indirect effects of climate change that modify nutrient inputs may affect many lakes in the future.

Alaska↗

USGS2013

Metabolism of a nitrogen-enriched coastal marine lagoon during the summertime

We measured metabolism rates in a shallow, nitrogen-enriched coastal marine ecosystem on Cape Cod (MA, USA) during seven summers using an open-water diel oxygen method. We compared two basins, one directly receiving most of the nitrogen (N) load (“Snug Harbor”) and another further removed from the N load and better flushed (“Outer Harbor”). Both dissolved oxygen and pH varied greatly over the day, increasing in daylight and decreasing at night. The more N-enriched basin frequently went hypoxic during the night, and the pH in both basins was low (compared to standard seawater) when the oxygen levels were low, due to elevated carbon dioxide. Day-to-day variation in gross primary production (GPP) was high and linked in part to variation in light. Whole-ecosystem respiration tended to track this short-term variation in GPP, suggesting that respiration by the primary producers often dominated whole-system respiration. GPP was higher in the more N-loaded Snug Harbor. Seagrasses covered over 60 % of the area of the better-flushed, Outer Harbor throughout our study and were the major contributors to GPP there. Seagrasses covered 20 % of the area in Snug Harbor for the first 5 years of our study, and their contribution to GPP was relatively small. The seagrasses in Snug Harbor died off completely in the 6th year, but GPP remained high then and in the subsequent year. Overall, rates of phytoplankton GPP were relatively low, suggesting that benthic micro- and macro-algae may be the dominant primary producers in Snug Harbor in most years. Net ecosystem production in both Snug Harbor and the Outer Harbor was variable from year to year, showing net heterotrophy in some years and net autotrophy in others, with a trend towards increasing autotrophy over the 7 years reported here.

Massachusetts↗

USGS2013

Exchange of nitrogen and phosphorus between a shallow lagoon and coastal waters

West Falmouth Harbor, a shallow lagoon on Cape Cod, has experienced a threefold increase in nitrogen load since the mid- to late 1990s due to input from a groundwater plume contaminated by a municipal wastewater treatment plant. We measured the exchange of nitrogen and phosphorus between the harbor and the coastal waters of Buzzards Bay over several years when the harbor was experiencing this elevated nitrogen load. During summer months, the harbor not only retained the entire watershed nitrogen load but also had a net import of nitrogen from Buzzards Bay. During the spring and fall, the harbor had a net export of nitrogen to Buzzards Bay. We did not measure the export in winter, but assuming the winter net export was less than 112 % of the load, the harbor exported less than half of the watershed nitrogen load on an annual basis. For phosphorus, the harbor had a net import from coastal waters in the spring and summer months and a net export in the fall. Despite the large increase in nitrogen load to the harbor, the summertime import of phosphorus from Buzzards Bay was sufficient to maintain nitrogen limitation of primary productivity during the summer. Our findings illustrate that shallow systems dominated by benthic producers have the potential to retain large terrestrial nitrogen loads when there is sufficient supply of phosphorus from exchange with coastal waters.

Buzzards Bay, West Falmouth Harbor↗

USGS2006

Methods for measuring denitrification: Diverse approaches to a difficult problem

Denitrification, the reduction of the nitrogen (N) oxides, nitrate (NO 3 − ) and nitrite (NO 2 − ), to the gases nitric oxide (NO), nitrous oxide (N 2 O), and dinitrogen (N 2 ), is important to primary production, water quality, and the chemistry and physics of the atmosphere at ecosystem, landscape, regional, and global scales. Unfortunately, this process is very difficult to measure, and existing methods are problematic for different reasons in different places at different times. In this paper, we review the major approaches that have been taken to measure denitrification in terrestrial and aquatic environments and discuss the strengths, weaknesses, and future prospects for the different methods. Methodological approaches covered include (1) acetylene-based methods, (2) 15 N tracers, (3) direct N 2 quantification, (4) N 2 :Ar ratio quantification, (5) mass balance approaches, (6) stoichiometric approaches, (7) methods based on stable isotopes, (8) in situ gradients with atmospheric environmental tracers, and (9) molecular approaches. Our review makes it clear that the prospects for improved quantification of denitrification vary greatly in different environments and at different scales. While current methodology allows for the production of accurate estimates of denitrification at scales relevant to water and air quality and ecosystem fertility questions in some systems (e.g., aquatic sediments, well-defined aquifers), methodology for other systems, especially upland terrestrial areas, still needs development. Comparison of mass balance and stoichiometric approaches that constrain estimates of denitrification at large scales with point measurements (made using multiple methods), in multiple systems, is likely to propel more improvement in denitrification methods over the next few years.

Ecological Applications↗