Abstract
Rapidly occurring environmental changes in alpine lakes highlight the importance of better understanding the ecological structure and function associated with these systems. Previous research has identified how the physical characteristics of lakes change as a function of landscape position, but comparatively little is known about shifts in the biotic community across mountain regions. In 2016, we sampled 19 lakes across an elevation gradient (2480–3550 m a.s.l.) within the Rocky Mountains, USA, to evaluate how both the abiotic characteristics of lakes and their planktonic biological communities covaried with elevation. Based on generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs), increases in elevation were associated with decreases in most nutrient concentrations (with the exception of nitrate), dissolved organic carbon, water temperature and lake stratification. Conversely, elevation increases were positively related to nitrate concentrations and water clarity. Extending this analysis to the biological community, we found that higher-elevation lakes exhibited lower phytoplankton and zooplankton densities, whereas elevation associated positively with average zooplankton size. Our data are consistent with the hypothesis that the alpine environment acts as a strong niche filter, limiting the quantity and diversity of taxa to groups capable of tolerating the short growing season, high flushing rate, strong variation in interannual precipitation, intense ultraviolet radiation exposure, and lower resource availability associated with such habitats.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alexander RB, Boyer EW, Smith RA, Schwarz GE, Moore RB (2007) The role of headwater streams in downstream water quality. JAWRA 43(1):41–59. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1752-1688.2007.00005.x
Álvarez E, Moyano M, López-Urrutia Á, Nogueira E, Scharek R (2014) Routine determination of plankton community composition and size structure: a comparison between FlowCAM and light microscopy. J Plankton Res 36(1):170–184. https://doi.org/10.1093/plankt/fbt069
Angilletta MJ, Steury TD, Sears MW (2004) Temperature, growth rate, and body size in ectotherms: fitting pieces of a life-history puzzle. Integr Comp Biol 44(6):498–509
Baker AL et al (2012) Phycokey—an image based key to Algae (PS Protista), Cyanobacteria, and other aquatic objects. University of New Hampshire Center for Freshwater Biology. http://cfb.unh.edu/phycokey/phycokey.htm
Baron JS, Schmidt TM, Hartman MD (2009) Climate-induced changes in high elevation stream nitrate dynamics. Glob Chang Biol 15(7):1777–1789. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2009.01847.x
Barton K, Barton MK (2015) Package ‘MuMIn’. Version 1:18
Baselga A (2013) Separating the two components of abundance-based dissimilarity: balanced changes in abundance vs. abundance gradients. Methods Ecol Evol 4(6):552–557. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.12029
Baselga A, Orme CDL (2012) betapart: an R package for the study of beta diversity: betapart package. Methods Ecol Evol 3(5):808–812. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2041-210X.2012.00224.x
Bates D, Mächler M, Bolker B, Walker S (2014) Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. arXiv:1406.5823
Beniston M (2003) Climatic change in mountain regions: a review of possible impacts. In: Climate variability and change in high elevation regions: past, present and future. Advances in Global Change Research. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 5–31. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-1252-7_2
Blumthaler M, Ambach W, Ellinger R (1997) Increase in solar UV radiation with altitude. J Photochem Photobiol 39(2):130–134. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1011-1344(96)00018-8
Bolker BM, Brooks ME, Clark CJ, Geange SW, Poulsen JR, Stevens MHH, White JSS (2009) Generalized linear mixed models: a practical guide for ecology and evolution. Trends Ecol Evol 24(3):127–135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2008.10.008
Bowman WD, Nemergut DR, McKnight DM, Miller MP, Williams MW (2015) A slide down a slippery slope—alpine ecosystem responses to nitrogen deposition. Plant Ecol Divers 8(5–6):727–738. https://doi.org/10.1080/17550874.2014.984786
Brown PD, Wurtsbaugh WA, Nydick KR (2008) Lakes and forests as determinants of downstream nutrient concentrations in small mountain watersheds. Arct Antarct Alp Res 40(3):462–469. https://doi.org/10.1657/1523-0430(07-052)%5bBROWN%5d2.0.CO;2
Bueno de Mesquita CP, Tillmann LS, Bernard CD, Rosemond KC, Molotch NP, Suding KN (2018) Topographic heterogeneity explains patterns of vegetation response to climate change (1972–2008) across a mountain landscape, Niwot Ridge, Colorado. Arct Antarct Alp Res 50(1):1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/15230430.2018.1504492
Buiteveld H (1995) A model for calculation of diffuse light attenuation (PAR) and Secchi depth. Aquat Ecol 29(1):55–65. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02061789
Caine NT (2002) Declining ice thickness on an alpine lake is generated by increased winter precipitation. Clim Chang 54(4):463–470. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1016111810814
Camarero L, Rogora M, Mosello R, Anderson NJ, Barbieri A, Botev I, Wright RF et al (2009) Regionalisation of chemical variability in European mountain lakes: regionalisation of mountain lakes chemistry. Freshwater Biol 54(12):2452–2469. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2427.2009.02296.x
Camoying MG, Yñiguez AT (2016) FlowCAM optimization: attaining good quality images for higher taxonomic classification resolution of natural phytoplankton samples: FlowCAM optimization. Limnol Oceanogr Methods 14(5):305–314. https://doi.org/10.1002/lom3.10090
Catalan J, Barbieri MG, Bartumeus F, BitušíK P, Botev I, Brancelj A, Ventura M et al (2009) Ecological thresholds in European alpine lakes. Freshwater Biol 54(12):2494–2517. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2427.2009.02286.x
Clow DW (2010) Changes in the timing of snowmelt and streamflow in Colorado: a response to recent warming. J Clim 23(9):2293–2306. https://doi.org/10.1175/2009JCLI2951.1
Cole JJ, Carpenter SR, Kitchell J, Pace ML, Solomon CT, Weidel B (2011) Strong evidence for terrestrial support of zooplankton in small lakes based on stable isotopes of carbon, nitrogen, and hydrogen. PNAS 108(5):1975–1980
Cory RM, McKnight DM (2005) Fluorescence spectroscopy reveals ubiquitous presence of oxidized and reduced quinones in dissolved organic matter. Environ Sci Technol 39(21):8142–8149
De Mendoza G, Catalan J (2010) Lake macroinvertebrates and the altitudinal environmental gradient in the Pyrenees. Hydrobiologia 648(1):51–72. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-010-0261-4
Dodds GS (1917) Altitudinal distribution of Entomostraca in Colorado. Proc U.S. Natl Museum 54(226):59–87
Dodson SI (1974) Zooplankton competition and predation: an experimental test of the size-efficiency hypothesis. Ecology 55(3):605–613
Dodson SI (1989) The ecological role of chemical stimuli for the zooplankton: predator-induced morphology in Daphnia. Oecologia 78(3):361–367
Ebert D (2005) Ecology, epidemiology, and evolution of parasitism in Daphnia. National Library of Medicine, Basel
Epstein DM, Neilson BT, Goodman KJ, Stevens DK, Wurtsbaugh WA (2013) A modeling approach for assessing the effect of multiple alpine lakes in sequence on nutrient transport. Aquat Sci 75(2):199–212. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00027-012-0267-2
Filker S, Sommaruga R, Vila I, Stoeck T (2016) Microbial eukaryote plankton communities of high-mountain lakes from three continents exhibit strong biogeographic patterns. Mol Ecol 25(10):2286–2301. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.13633
Finlay BJ (2002) Global dispersal of free-living microbial eukaryote species. Science 296(5570):1061–1063. https://10.1126/science.1070710
Fjellheim A, Raddum GG, Vandvik V, Lniceanu C, Boggero A, Brancelj A, Stuchlik E et al (2009) Diversity and distribution patterns of benthic invertebrates along alpine gradients. A study of remote European freshwater lakes. Adv Limnol 62:167–190
Fleck JA, Gill G, Bergamaschi BA, Kraus TEC, Downing BD, Alpers CN (2014) Concurrent photolytic degradation of aqueous methylmercury and dissolved organic matter. Sci Total Environ 484:263–275. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.03.107
Fox J, Weisberg S (2011) Multivariate linear models in R. An R companion to applied regression. Thousand Oaks, Los Angeles
Füreder L, Ettinger R, Boggero A, Thaler B, Thies H (2006) Macroinvertebrate Diversity in Alpine Lakes: effects of altitude and catchment properties. Hydrobiologia 562(1):123–144. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-005-1808-7
Greenland D (1989) The climate of Niwot Ridge, Front Range, Colorado, U.S.A. Arct Antarct Alp Res 21(4):380. https://doi.org/10.2307/1551647
Hampton SE, Galloway AWE, Powers SM, Ozersky T, Woo KH, Batt RD, Xenopoulos MA et al (2017) Ecology under lake ice. Ecol Lett 20(1):98–111. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.12699
Haney JF et al (2013) An-image-based key to the zooplankton of North America. Version 5.0 released 2013. University of New Hampshire Center for Freshwater Biology < cfb.unh.edu>
Hansen AM, Kraus TEC, Pellerin BA, Fleck JA, Downing BD, Bergamaschi BA (2016) Optical properties of dissolved organic matter (DOM): effects of biological and photolytic degradation: DOM optical properties following degradation. Limnol Oceanogr 61(3):1015–1032. https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.10270
Hansson LA, Hylander S, Sommaruga R (2007) Escape from UV threats in zooplankton: a cocktail of behavior and protective pigmentation. Ecology 88(8):1932–1939
Havens KE, Pinto-Coelho RM, Beklioğlu M, Christoffersen KS, Jeppesen E, Lauridsen TL, Erdoğan Ş et al (2015) Temperature effects on body size of freshwater crustacean zooplankton from Greenland to the tropics. Hydrobiologia 743(1):27–35
Helms JR, Stubbins A, Ritchie JD, Minor EC, Kieber DJ, Mopper K (2008) Absorption spectral slopes and slope ratios as indicators of molecular weight, source, and photobleaching of chromophoric dissolved organic matter. Limnol Oceanogr 53(3):955–969. https://doi.org/10.4319/lo.2008.53.3.0955
Hessen DO (1996) Competitive trade-off strategies in ArcticDaphnia linked to melanism and UV-B stress. Polar Biol 16(8):573–579
Hessen DO (2002) Responses in pigmentation and anti-oxidant expression in Arctic Daphnia along gradients of DOC and UV exposure. J Plankton Res 24(10):1009–1018. https://doi.org/10.1093/plankt/24.10.1009
Hessen DO, Borgeraas J, Kessler K, Refseth UH (1999) UV-B susceptibility and photoprotection of Arctic Daphnia morphotypes. Polar Res 18(2):345–352. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-8369.1999.tb00313.x
Hill RA, Weber MH, Debbout RM, Leibowitz SG, Olsen AR (2018) The Lake-Catchment (LakeCat) Dataset: characterizing landscape features for lake basins within the conterminous USA. Freshw Sci 37(2):208–221. https://doi.org/10.1086/697966
Hood EW, Williams MW, Caine N (2003a) Landscape controls on organic and inorganic nitrogen leaching across an alpine/subalpine ecotone, Green Lakes Valley, Colorado Front Range. Ecosystems 6(1):31–45
Hood EW, McKnight DM, Williams MW (2003b) Sources and chemical character of dissolved organic carbon across an alpine/subalpine ecotone, Green Lakes Valley, Colorado Front Range, United States. Water Resour Res 39(7):1–12. https://doi.org/10.1029/2002WR001738
Humphries HC, Bourgeron PS, Mujica-Crapanzano LR (2008) Tree spatial patterns and environmental relationships in the forest–alpine tundra ecotone at Niwot Ridge, Colorado, USA. Ecol Res 23(3):589–605. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-007-0413-9
Jacobsen D, Dangles O (2017) Ecology of high altitude waters. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 1–15
Kamenik C, Schmidt R, Kum G, Psenner R (2001) The influence of catchment characteristics on the water chemistry of Mountain Lakes. Arct Antarct Alp Res 33(4):404–409. https://doi.org/10.1080/15230430.2001.12003448
Kissman CE, Williamson CE, Rose KC, Saros JE (2017) Nutrients associated with terrestrial dissolved organic matter drive changes in zooplankton: phytoplankton biomass ratios in an alpine lake. Freshw Biol 62(1):40–51
Kolesar SE, McKnight DM, Waters SB (2002) Late fall phytoplankton dynamics in three lakes, Rocky Mountain National Park. Hydrobiologia 472(1–3):249–263
Kraemer BM, Anneville O, Chandra S, Dix M, Kuusisto E, Livingstone DM, McIntyre PB et al (2015) Morphometry and average temperature affect lake stratification responses to climate change: lake stratification responses to climate. Geophys Res Lett 42(12):4981–4988. https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL064097
Kraemer BM, Chandra S, Dell AI, Dix M, Kuusisto E, Livingstone DM, McIntyre PB et al (2017) Global patterns in lake ecosystem responses to warming based on the temperature dependence of metabolism. Glob Chang Biol 23(5):1881–1890. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13459
Kratz T, Webster K, Bowser C, Maguson J, Benson B (1997) The influence of landscape position on lakes in northern Wisconsin. Freshw Biol 37(1):209–217
Kuhn M (2001) The nutrient cycle through snow and ice: a review. Aquat Sci 63(2):150–167. https://doi.org/10.1007/PL00001348
Kuznetsova A, Brockhoff PB, Christensen RHB (2017) lmerTest package: tests in linear mixed effects models. J Stat Softw 82(13). https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v082.i13
Larson GL, Hoffman R, McIntire CD, Lienkaemper G, Samora B (2008) Zooplankton assemblages in montane lakes and ponds of Mount Rainier National Park, Washington State, USA. J Plankton Res 31(3):273–285. https://doi.org/10.1093/plankt/fbn125
Laurion I, Ventura M, Catalan J, Psenner R, Sommaruga R (2000) Attenuation of ultraviolet radiation in mountain lakes: factors controlling the among- and within-lake variability. Limnol Oceanogr 45(6):1274–1288. https://doi.org/10.4319/lo.2000.45.6.1274
Legendre P, Fortin MJ, Borcard D (2015) Should the mantel test be used in spatial analysis? Methods Ecol Evol 6(11):1239–1247. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.12425
Livingstone DM (1997) Break-up dates of Alpine Lakes as proxy data for local and regional mean surface air temperatures. Clim Change 37(2):407–439
Loewen CJG, Vinebrooke RD (2016) Regional diversity reverses the negative impacts of an alien predator on local species-poor communities. Ecology 97(10):2740–2749. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.1485
Loewen CJG, Strecker AL, Larson GL, Vogel A, Fischer JM, Vinebrooke RD (2019) Macroecological drivers of zooplankton communities across the mountains of western North America. Ecography. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecog.03817
Lyons DA, Vinebrooke RD (2016) Linking zooplankton richness with energy input and insularity along altitudinal and latitudinal gradients: species richness in mountain lakes. Limnol Oceanogr 61(3):841–852. https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.10263
Markager S, Vincent WF (2000) Spectral light attenuation and the absorption of UV and blue light in natural waters. Limnol Oceanogr 45(3):642–650. https://doi.org/10.4319/lo.2000.45.3.0642
Martin SL, Soranno PA (2006) Lake landscape position: relationships to hydrologic connectivity and landscape features. Limnol Oceanogr 51(2):801–814
Martiny JBH, Bohannan BJM, Brown JH, Colwell RK, Fuhrman JA, Green JL, Staley JT et al (2006) Microbial biogeography: putting microorganisms on the map. Nat Rev Microbiol 4(2):102–112. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro1341
McCauley E (1984) The estimation of the abundance and biomass of zooplankton in samples. Manual Methods Assess Second Product Fresh Water 17:228–265
McCutcheon SC, Martin JL, Barnwell TO (1993) Water quality. In: Maidment DR (ed) Handbood of hydrology. McGraw-Hill, New York, NY, p 113
McGuire KJ, McDonnell JJ, Weiler M, Kendall C, McGlynn BL, Welker JM, Seibert J (2005) The role of topography on catchment-scale water residence time: catchment-scale water residence time. Water Resour Res 41(5):1–14. https://doi.org/10.1029/2004WR003657
McKnight DM, Andrews ED, Spaulding SA, Aiken GR (1994) Aquatic fulvic acids in algal-rich Antarctic ponds. Limnol Oceanogr 39(8):1972–1979
McKnight DM, Harnish R, Wershaw RL, Baron JS, Schiff S (1997) Chemical characteristics of particulate, colloidal, and dissolved organic material in Loch Vale Watershed, Rocky Mountain National Park. Biogeochemistry 36(1):99–124. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005783812730
McKnight DM, Boyer EW, Westerhoff PK, Doran PT, Kulbe T, Andersen DT (2001) Spectrofluorometric characterization of dissolved organic matter for indication of precursor organic material and aromaticity. Limnol Oceanogr 46(1):38–48
McNaught AS, Schindler DW, Parker BR, Paul AJ, Anderson RS, Donald DB, Agbeti M (1999) Restoration of the food web of an alpine lake following fish stocking. Limnol Oceanogr 44(1):127–136. https://doi.org/10.4319/lo.1999.44.1.0127
Miller MP, McKnight DM (2015) Limnology of the Green Lakes Valley: phytoplankton ecology and dissolved organic matter biogeochemistry at a long-term ecological research site. Plant Ecol Divers 8(5–6):689–702. https://doi.org/10.1080/17550874.2012.738255
Miller MP, McKnight DM, Chapra SC, Williams MW (2009) A model of degradation and production of three pools of dissolved organic matter in an alpine lake. Limnol Oceanogr 54(6):2213–2227. https://doi.org/10.4319/lo.2009.54.6.2213
Moeller RE, Gilroy S, Williamson CE, Grad G, Sommaruga R (2005) Dietary acquisition of photoprotective compounds (mycosporine-like amino acids, carotenoids) and acclimation to ultraviolet radiation in a freshwater copepod. Limnol Oceanogr 50(2):427–439. https://doi.org/10.4319/lo.2005.50.2.0427
Moser KA, Baron JS, Brahney J, Oleksy IA, Saros JE, Hundey EJ, Strecker AL et al (2019) Mountain lakes: eyes on global environmental change. Glob Planet Chang 178:77–95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2019.04.001
Nevalainen L, Luoto TP, Rantala MV, Galkin A, Rautio M (2015) Role of terrestrial carbon in aquatic UV exposure and photoprotective pigmentation of meiofauna in subarctic lakes. Freshw Biol 60(11):2435–2444
Obertegger U, Flaim G, Braioni MG, Sommaruga R, Corradini F, Borsato A (2007) Water residence time as a driving force of zooplankton structure and succession. Aquat Sci 69(4):575–583
Oikonomou A, Filker S, Breiner HW, Stoeck T (2015) Protistan diversity in a permanently stratified meromictic lake (Lake Alatsee, SW Germany). Environ Microbiol 17(6):2144–2157. https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.12666
Oksanen J, Blanchet FG, Kindt R, Legendre P, Minchin PR, O’hara RB, Oksanen MJ et al (2013) Package ‘vegan’. Community ecology package, version, 2(9)
Pinel-Alloul B, André A, Legendre P, Cardille JA, Patalas K, Salki A (2013) Large-scale geographic patterns of diversity and community structure of pelagic crustacean zooplankton in Canadian lakes: biodiversity patterns of crustacean zooplankton in Canada. Glob Ecol Biogeogr 22(7):784–795. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.12041
Poulton NJ, Martin JL (2010) Imaging flow cytometry for quantitative phytoplankton analysis-FlowCAM. Microscopic and molecular methods for quantitative phytoplankton analysis. In: KarlsonB, Cusack C, Bresnan E (eds), IOC manuals and guides (55):47–54
Prescott GW (1964) How to know the freshwater algae. Wm C. Brown Company Publishers, Dubuque Iowa
Preston DL, Caine N, McKnight DM, Williams MW, Hell K, Miller MP, Johnson PTJ et al (2016) Climate regulates alpine lake ice cover phenology and aquatic ecosystem structure. Geophys Res Lett 43(10):5353–5360
Read EK, Patil VP, Oliver SK, Hetherington AL, Brentrup JA, Zwart JA, Weathers KC et al (2015) The importance of lake-specific characteristics for water quality across the continental United States. Ecol Appl 25(4):943–955. https://doi.org/10.1890/14-0935.1
Reche I, Pulido-Villena E, Morales-Baquero R, Casamayor EO (2005) Does ecosystem size determine aquatic bacterial richness? Ecology 86(7):1715–1722
Rhodes C, Bingham A, Heard AM, Hewitt J, Lynch J, Waite R, Bell MD (2017) Diatoms to human uses: linking nitrogen deposition, aquatic eutrophication, and ecosystem services. Ecosphere. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.1858
Rofner C, Peter H, Catalán N, Drewes F, Sommaruga R, Pérez MT (2017) Climate-related changes of soil characteristics affect bacterial community composition and function of high altitude and latitude lakes. Glob Chang Biol 23(6):2331–2344. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13545
Rose KC, Williamson CE, Saros JE, Sommaruga R, Fischer JM (2009) Differences in UV transparency and thermal structure between alpine and subalpine lakes: implications for organisms. Photochem Photobiol 8(9):1244–1256. https://doi.org/10.1039/b905616e
Rose KC, Williamson CE, Kissman CEH, Saros JE (2015) Does allochthony in lakes change across an elevation gradient? Ecology 96(12):3281–3291
Sadro S, Melack JM (2012) The effect of an extreme rain event on the biogeochemistry and ecosystem metabolism of an oligotrophic high-elevation lake. Arct Antarct Alp Res 44(2):222–231. https://doi.org/10.1657/1938-4246-44.2.222
Sadro S, Melack JM, MacIntyre S (2011) Depth-integrated estimates of ecosystem metabolism in a high-elevation lake (Emerald Lake, Sierra Nevada, California). Limnol Oceanogr 56(5):1764–1780. https://doi.org/10.4319/lo.2011.56.5.1764
Sadro S, Nelson CE, Melack JM (2012) The influence of landscape position and catchment characteristics on aquatic biogeochemistry in high-elevation lake-chains. Ecosystems 15(3):363–386. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-011-9515-x
Sadro S, Sickman JO, Melack JM, Skeen K (2018) Effects of climate variability on snowmelt and implications for organic matter in a high-elevation lake. Water Resour Res 54(7):4563–4578. https://doi.org/10.1029/2017WR022163
Sadro S, Melack JM, Sickman JO, Skeen K (2019) Climate warming response of mountain lakes affected by variations in snow. Limnol Oceanogr Lett 4(1):9–17. https://doi.org/10.1002/lol2.10099
Saros JE, Rose KC, Clow DW, Stephens VC, Nurse AB, Arnett HA, Wolfe AP et al (2010) Melting alpine glaciers enrich high-elevation lakes with reactive nitrogen. Environ Sci Technol 44(13):4891–4896. https://doi.org/10.1021/es100147j
Seastedt TR, Bowman WD, Caine TN, McKnight DM, Townsend A, Williams MW (2004) The landscape continuum: a model for high-elevation ecosystems. Bioscience 54(2):111–121
Skála I (2015) Zooplankton community composition of high mountain lakes in the Tatra Mts., the Alps in North Tyrol, and Scotland: relationship to pH, depth, organic carbon, and chlorophyll-a concentration. Acta Mus Siles Sci Nat 64(2):175–189. https://doi.org/10.1515/cszma-2015-0025
Smith GM (1933) Fresh-water algae of the United States. McGraw-Hill, New York
Sommaruga R (2001) The role of solar UV radiation in the ecology of alpine lakes. J Photochem Photobiol 62(1–2):35–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1011-1344(01)00154-3
Soranno PA, Cheruvelil KS, Webster KE, Bremigan MT, Wagner T, Stow CA (2010) Using landscape limnology to classify freshwater ecosystems for multi-ecosystem management and conservation. Bioscience 60(6):440–454. https://doi.org/10.1525/bio.2010.60.6.8
Soranno PA, Bacon LC, Beauchene M, Bednar KE, Bissell EG, Boudreau CK, Yuan S et al (2017) LAGOS-NE: a multi-scaled geospatial and temporal database of lake ecological context and water quality for thousands of US lakes. GigaScience. https://doi.org/10.1093/gigascience/gix101
Spaulding SA, Jewson DH, Bixby RJ, Nelson H, McKnight DM (2012) Automated measurement of diatom size: automated measurement of diatom size. Limnol Oceanogr Methods 10(11):882–890. https://doi.org/10.4319/lom.2012.10.882
Stoddard JL (1987) Microcrustacean communities of high-elevation lakes in the Sierra Nevada, California. J Plankton Res 9(4):631–650. https://doi.org/10.1093/plankt/9.4.631
Stomp M, Huisman J, Mittelbach GG, Litchman E, Klausmeier CA (2011) Large-scale biodiversity patterns in freshwater phytoplankton. Ecology 92(11):2096–2107. https://doi.org/10.1890/10-1023.1
Vadeboncoeur Y, Vander Zanden MJ, Lodge DM (2002) Putting the Lake Back Together: Reintegrating Benthic Pathways into Lake Food Web Models: Lake ecologists tend to focus their research on pelagic energy pathways, but, from algae to fish, benthic organisms form an integral part of lake food webs. Bioscience 52(1):44-54. https://doi.org/10.1641/0006-3568(2002)052%5b0044:PTLBTR%5d2.0.CO;2
Vannote RL, Minshall GW, Cummins KW, Sedell JR, Cushing CE (1980) The river continuum concept. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 37(1):130–137
Ventura M, Camarero L, Buchaca T, Bartumeus F, Livingstone DM, Catalan J (2000) The main features of seasonal variability in the external forcing and dynamics of a deep mountain lake (Redó, Pyrenees). J Limnol 59(1):97–108. https://doi.org/10.4081/jlimnol.2000.s1.97
Verpoorter C, Kutser T, Seekell DA, Tranvik LJ (2014) A global inventory of lakes based on high-resolution satellite imagery. Geophys Res Lett 41(18):6396–6402. https://doi.org/10.1002/2014GL060641
Vincent WF, Roy S (1993) Solar ultraviolet-B radiation and aquatic primary production: damage, protection, and recovery. Environ Rev 1(1):1–12. https://doi.org/10.1139/a93-001
Viviroli D, Dürr HH, Messerli B, Meybeck M, Weingartner R (2007) Mountains of the world, water towers for humanity: typology, mapping, and global significance. Water Resour Res 43(7):1–26. https://doi.org/10.1029/2006WR005653
Ward H, Marsh C, Birge E (1904) A biological reconnoissance of some elevated lakes in the sierras and the rockies, with reports on the copepoda and on the cladocera. Trans Am Microsc Soc 25:127–154. https://doi.org/10.2307/3220874
Weglenska T (1976) A review of some problems in zooplankton production studies. Norwegian J, Zool
Weyhenmeyer GA, Meili M, Livingstone DM (2004) Nonlinear temperature response of lake ice breakup. Geophys Res Lett 31(7):1–4. https://doi.org/10.1029/2004GL019530
Williams MW, Davinroy T, Brooks PD (1997) Organic and inorganic nitrogen pools in talus fields and subtalus water, Green Lakes Valley, Colorado Front Range. Hydrol Process 11(13):1747–1760. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1099-1085(19971030)11:13%3c1747:AID-HYP603%3e3.0.CO;2-B
Williamson CE, Salm C, Cooke SL, Saros JE (2010) How do UV radiation, temperature, and zooplankton influence the dynamics of alpine phytoplankton communities? Hydrobiologia 648(1):73–81. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-010-0147-5
Acknowledgements
We thank the Niwot Ridge Long-Term Ecological Research program for supporting this research; the various field team members Kathi Hell-Jaros, Josh Darling, Samuel Fonteneli, Dylan Rose, Henry Brandes and Holly Miller who helped collect and process the survey data; Johnson Laboratory, notably Dana Calhoun, for their comments on the manuscript; Travis McDevitt-Galles and Wynne Moss for their insights on data analysis; William Bowman, Jen Morse, and Katherine Suding for their logistical support of this project; and The City of Boulder, Rocky Mountain National Park, Arapahoe and Roosevelt National Forest and Boulder County Open Space for allowing us to collect data in their treasured aquatic environments. For comments helpful in revising the manuscript, we thank Sudeep Chandra, Steve Sadro, Stuart Findlay, and one anonymous reviewer. This work was supported through the National Science Foundation (DEB-1637686 and DEB-1754171) as well as a fellowship from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Loria, K.A., McKnight, D., Ragar, D.M. et al. The life aquatic in high relief: shifts in the physical and biological characteristics of alpine lakes along an elevation gradient in the Rocky Mountains, USA. Aquat Sci 82, 11 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00027-019-0684-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00027-019-0684-6