A paleolimnological approach to assessing water quality through time in three distinct urban lakes

Paleolimnology utilizes sediment records as a tool to assess the magnitude and onset of water quality shifts in urban aquatic systems, especially where monitoring data fail to precede anthropogenic impacts. Here, we assess the impacts of urbanization on water quality using sediment core data from three lakes: Lake Parker (Florida, USA) in a primarily industrial watershed, Lake Howard (Florida, USA) in a primarily residential watershed, and Lake Coba (Yucatan, MEX) in a watershed considered urban during Prehistoric Maya occupation. Using proxies such as photosynthetic pigments, nutrients, heavy metals and organic matter, we assessed how alterations in urban land use affect sediment biogeochemistry, pollution storage, and whole-lake eutrophication in urban systems. The two modern urban lakes (Parker, Howard) differ in concentrations of nutrients and heavy metals and differ somewhat in algal community composition. However, the timing of substantial biogeochemical shifts in these systems is comparable, revealing synchronous increases in urban-associated elements accelerating around 1940 CE. Early data from Lake Coba show persistent and corresponding upticks in nutrients (e.g., potassium, phosphorus) and heavy metals (e.g., iron, aluminum, copper, etc.) during Prehistoric occupation that ultimately return to baseline conditions, indicating potential for lake recovery after dense human presence.

Primary Presenter: savanna wooten, Auburn University (slw0093@auburn.edu)

Authors:

Savanna Wooten, Auburn University  (slw0093@auburn.edu)

Matthew Waters, AUBURN UNIVERSITY  (mnw0018@auburn.edu)

Mark Brenner, University of Florida  (brenner@ufl.edu)

Jason Curtis, University of Florida  (curtisj@ufl.edu)