Spatial variability of stable isotopes and fossil pigments in surface sediments of Alaskan coastal lakes: Constraints on quantitative estimates of past salmon abundance
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| Authors: | Brock, CS; Leavitt, PR; Schindler, DE; Johnson, SP; Moore, JW |
| Year: | 2006 |
| Journal: | Limnology and Oceanography 51: 1637-1647 PDF |
| Title: | Spatial variability of stable isotopes and fossil pigments in surface sediments of Alaskan coastal lakes: Constraints on quantitative estimates of past salmon abundance |
| Abstract: | We quantified spatial patterns of stable isotopes of N and C (delta N-15, delta C-13) and fossil pigment concentrations in the uppermost 10 mm of sediment (similar to 10 yr) from 74 profundal locations and three spawning-stream discharge areas in Lake Nerka, southwest Alaska. Sediment delta N-15 (4.3 parts per thousand +/- 0.7 parts per thousand) and delta C-13 (-26.3 parts per thousand +/- 1.2 parts per thousand) varied directly (delta N-15) or inversely (delta C-13) with water column depth, whereas concentrations of most fossil pigments from algae were negatively correlated with depth. Sediment delta N-15 and delta C-13 were poorly correlated with either fossil pigment abundance or the local densities of spawning salmon. Instead, coastal nursery lakes appeared to integrate marine-derived nutrients rapidly into lakewide nutrient pools, suggesting that while individual cores may be used to reconstruct whole-lake salmon densities, habitat-specific variations of past fish populations cannot be quantified reliably from sedimentary analyses. |
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