Lakes acidification

Dickman, M. Fortescue, J. 1984. Rates of lake acidification inferred from sediment diatoms for eight lakes located north of Sudbury. Verhandlungen Internationale Vereinigung fuer Theoretische und Angewandte Limnologie, 22, 345-1356. 

Global climate change, air-quality degradation (coal, oil), lake acidification and forest damage (coal, oil), land disturbance and others, if hydrogen is produced by fossil fuels ... 

Decomposition rates of some organic substrates are reduced. Substantial changes in the species composition of primary producers occur. The richness of phytoplankton species is reduced, while biomass and productivity of phytoplankton are not reduced by acidification. The biomass of herbivorous and predaceous zooplankton is probably reduced because of reductions in numbers of organisms and/or reduction in their average size. Many benthic invertebrates such as species of snails, clams, crayfish, amphipods, and various aquatic insects are intolerant of low pH and are seldom found in acidic lakes. However, certain large aquatic insects such as water boatmen and gyrinids are very acid tolerant and may become the top predators in some acidified lakes. Acidification of aquatic systems has major effects on fish population. 

L. M. Goss, A Demonstration of Acid Rain and Lake Acidification Wet Deposition of Sulfur Dioxide, J. Chem. Ed. 2003,80, 39. 

Kreis, R. G., Jr. In Paleoecological Investigation of Recent Lake Acidification Methods and Project Description Charles, D. F. Whitehead, D. R., Eds. Report EA-4906 Electric Power Research Institute Palo Alto, CA, 1986 pp 17-19. 

Schindler, D. W., P. J. Curtis, B. R. Parker, and M. P. Stainton. 1996. Consequences of climate warming and lake acidification for UV-B penetration in North American boreal lakes. 

Several whole-lake ion budgets have shown that internal alkalinity generation (IAG) is important in regulating the alkalinity of groundwater recharge lakes and that sulfate retention processes are the dominant source of IAG (3-5)1 and synoptic studies (6-9) have shown that sulfate reduction occurs in sediments from a wide variety of softwater lakes. Baker et al. (10) showed that net sulfate retention in lakes can be modeled as a first-order process with respect to sulfate concentration and several "whole ecosystem" models of lake acidification recently have been modified to include in-lake processes (11). 

Finally, there is a potential for inhibition of sulfate reduction by sediment acidification in highly impacted sites. In the first two years of experimental acidification of Little Rock Lake there is no evidence of decreased pH in porewater 1 cm below the interface. It is not clear, however, whether sediment acidification will occur with further increases in acid loadings to the lake. Rudd et al. (fi) showed that porewaters from lakes Hovattn and little Hovattn were acidic at fall turnover and postulated that this may occur by oxidation of reduced sulfur compounds. Although sediments from 223 showed no evidence of acidification after 10 years of experimental lake acidification, the pH of porewater from Lake 114 declined by > 0.5 units after just three years of experimental acidification (fi). 

In addition to limitations on sulfate reduction, seston deposition of S is limited by algal-S content and primary productivity. The relationship between primary productivity and lake acidification is unclear 1621. but limited evidence suggests that primary productivity is not particularly sensitive to moderate lake acidification. Further, there is little evidence to indicate that the S content of seston changes much with acidification (Table III). Hence, within a given lake, the loss of sulfate from the water column from seston deposition probably changes little during the acidification process. 

Acid Deposition Processes of Lake Acidification, National Research Council, National Academy Press, Washington, DC, 1984. 

Amphibians, e.g. Rana temporaria and Bufo bufo suffer from lake acidification because of the ecological change and development of new species of algae. 

Bouchard A. (1997) Recent lake acidification and recovery trends in southern Quebec, Canada. Water Air Soil Pollut. 94, 225-245. 

Davison W., George D. G., and Edwards N. J. A. (1995) Controlled reversal of lake acidification by treatment with phosphate fertilizer. Nature 377, 504-507. 

Forsius M., KamM J., Kortelainen P., Mannio J., Verta M., and Kinnunen K. (1990) Statistical lake survey in Finland regional estimates of lake acidification. In Acidification in Finland (eds. P. Kauppi, P. Anttila, and K. Kenttamies). Springer, Berhn, pp. 759-780. 

Henriksen A., Lien L., Traaen T. S., Sevalrud I. S., and Brakke D. F. (1988a) Lake acidification in Norway— present and predicted cherrrical status. Ambio 17, 259—266. 

Jeffries D. S. (1990) Buffering of pH by sediments in streams and lakes. In Soils, Aquatic Processes, and Lake Acidification, 4, Advances in Environment Science, Acidic Precipitation (eds. S. A. Norton, S. E. Lindberg, and A. L. Page). Springer, New York, pp. 107-132. 

The ability of forests to withstand acid rain depends on the capacity of the soil to neutralize the inputting acidity. This is largely determined by local geology, in much the same way that it affects the acidification of lakes. Acidification is mainly a problem in areas where the underlying rocks provide poor buffering capacity. Rocks such as granite offer little buffering protection. Chalk and limestone neutralize added acid, and so soils, lakes and streams in limestone areas are fairly insensitive to acidic precipitation. 

Box 2. Loss offish species and lake acidification (After Bunce, 1994)... 

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