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OCR for page 317
Raising the Level of
a Subarctic Lake
A common form of environmental intervention is damming a river to
produce an artificial lake or raising the level of an existing lake to create
a larger one. The environmental problems arising from these manipulations
are more complex than those resulting from pollution of lakes, because
the manipulations establish new flow patterns, inundate existing shore-
lines, initiate erosional processes that create new shorelines, and change
the morphologic characteristics of the lakes. For these reasons, prediction
of the consequences of altering the dimensions of lakes is more difficult
and more uncertain than prediction of the responses of lakes to pollutants
and their elimination.
Southern Indian Lake, in northern Manitoba, was raised 3 m in 1976,
and rivers were diverted so that the flow of water through the lake was
reduced by about 75%. The case study reveals that, despite careful plan-
ning of the project, many of the predictions were seriously wrong. The
limnologists who carried out the preproject studies later analyzed the
disparities between their predictions and the outcomes. As a result, future
studies for similar projects will be based on better models.
317
OCR for page 318
Case Study
JOHN T. LEHMAN, Division of Biological Sciences, University of
Michigan, Ann Arbor
Southern Indian Lake (57° N. 99° W), in northern Manitoba, is a riverine
basin along the Churchill River that drains northward to Hudson Bay. In
1976, the natural lake outlet was dammed and the lake level raised 3 m,
so that the Churchill could be diverted southward across a drainage divide.
Of the natural river flow of almost 1,000 m3/second, 75% was diverted
into the Nelson River and no longer flows through the main lake. The
diversion scheme permitted the combined flow of drainage from over 1.4
million square kilometers of the northern Great Plains to flow through a
single series of dams and hydroelectric generating stations. The project
had been planned in principle since the 1950s, and the lake had been the
object of careful impact assessments. Extensive and detailed knowledge
of the later ecological events has come through the efforts of scientists at
the Freshwater Institute in Winnipeg. Institute scientists were charged in
1976 with a long-term study to evaluate the predictive capabilities of
impact assessments and to generate new capabilities with increased quan-
titative precision.
The preimpoundment assessment work was done by professional lim-
nologists who used existing modeling techniques and a literature-based
paradigm regarding reservoir dynamics. The project was treated as a large-
scale experiment to test the hypotheses of the impact assessments and to
modify the paradigm. Many predictions were realized, and others differed
from expectation only in quantitative detail. Most biological responses
above the primary trophic level, however, were predicted either incorrectly
or not at all. Assessments based on analogy and scaling were often mis-
leading. The most striking unpredicted change involved the commercial
whitefish fishery and the local economy that depended on it.
Southern Indian Lake supported the largest commercial fishery in north-
ern Manitoba. About 85% of the catch was Coregonus clupeaformis, the
lake whitefish. During the 3 decades before impoundment, the annual
catch averaged 334 metric tons, almost exclusively high-quality fish of
"export" grade (Bodaly et al., 1984b). The dendritic basin of Southern
Indian Lake consists of several subbasins that are separated by islands and
channel constrictions. The high quality of the fishery was maintained by
selective fishing in the most profitable basins. Elsewhere, stocks were
dominated by darker fish with high incidences of muscle cysts of the
parasitic cestode Triaenophorus crassus.
318
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RAISING THE LEVEL OF A SUBARCTIC LAKE
319
Southern Indian Lake is in a region underlain by Precambrian shield
bedrock. The overlying sedimentary deposits are glaciolacustrine or gla-
ciofluvial, tracing either to the glacial Lake Agassiz or to outwash during
the retreat of the last continental glaciation. Before the 3-m impoundment,
76% of the shoreline was exposed bedrock. Mean annual temperature in
the region is-5°C, so permafrost is widespread in the glacial deposits.
Vegetation is characteristic of boreal forest or taiga (Newbury et al., 19841.
On the basis of federal and provincial feasibility studies, Manitoba
Hydro in the 1960s proposed raising Southern Indian Lake by 10 m. This
high-level impoundment was selected to optimize the generation of elec-
tricity, without regard for environmental issues or a thorough study of the
cost-effectiveness of hydrologic storage in the lake. In response to public
concern, the utility contracted with Underwood-McLellan and Associates
Ltd., a consulting engineering firm, to produce a predevelopment impact
assessment of several diversion scheme options. Published in 1970, that
study caused Manitoba Hydro to opt instead for a less costly low-level
(3-m) impoundment, on the grounds that it would have proportionally
smaller effects on watershed and shoreline. A federal-provincial study
board was later commissioned to investigate the effects of the new plan.
The Lake Winnipeg, Churchill and Nelson Rivers Study Board undertook
its work concurrently with construction activities and issued its final report
in April 1975, shortly before the diversion. The two studies differed
considerably in their objectives and data bases. The first involved no
substantial field work and was aimed at determining costs and benefits of
different diversion schemes. The second was initiated after the configu-
ration and construction schedule of the project were fixed; scientists were
charged with providing reliable baseline data, predicting future conditions,
and then measuring them.
The federal-provincial study was comprehensive. It included studies of
hydrology, soils, fisheries, limnology, wildlife, geology, recreation, for-
estry, archaeology, navigation, and socioeconomic factors. University
scientists, private consultants, and government laboratories were involved
in different aspects of the investigations. The fisheries-limnology com-
ponent was summarized by Hecky and Ayles (1974), who described the
existing conditions of the basin in concise, quantitative terms and then
presented a series of predictions.
The limnologists recognized that the diversion scheme would alter flow
patterns in the lake and that some regions would be flushed more quickly
than others. In their opinion, the altered flow would have a greater impact
on water chemistry than would inundation itself, because Churchill River
water greatly influenced the main basins of the lake under natural con-
ditions. If normal flowthrough were reduced by 80%, which was the
OCR for page 320
320
SELECTED CASE STUDIES
proposed long-term average, local drainage could dominate conditions in
a large area of the lake.
Projections were based in part on conceptual and numerical models that
related nutrient loading and water exchange with algal abundance and
productivity. These were new, sophisticated versions of the approach that
Edmondson had used to evaluate nutrient loading in Lake Washington
(see Chapter 20 and, e.g., Dillon and Rigler, 1974, and Vollenweider,
1975~. The models had sound empirical support and widespread accep-
tance as a means to predict algal abundance and trophic state. Predictions
were for steady-state conditions that would follow transient inundation
effects. Reduced inflow of Churchill River water would lead to diminished
turbidity and nutrients from fluvial sediment loading in the long run, but
water residence time would increase. Overall annual algal production was
expected to decline by 33-50% in the main basins. The diversion was
expected to have a positive effect in one basin along the diversion route,
which previously had received little Churchill water directly.
Inundation was expected to affect water quality, but not as drastically
in the long term as diversion. The conventional reservoir paradigm pre-
dicted that nutrient release from soils and vegetation would increase post-
impoundment production at all levels in the food chain. The overburden
of frozen glaciolacustrine clays around Southern Indian Lake, however,
had great potential for erosion. Increased turbidity would negate benefits
of increases in nutrients, according to surveys of light penetration and
primary productivity. The inundation was thus expected to have no net
favorable effects and to be detrimental in littoral regions.
The limnologists expected higher trophic levels generally to track changes
in the algae, although not necessarily immediately or in strict proportion.
Declines in planktonic and zoobenthic production in main basins were
expected to diminish fish production gradually. Suitable spawning sites
for whitefish in the inundated areas were of concern, as was the chance
that diversion could disorient migrating fish. Hecky and Ayles (1974)
foresaw difficulties for the commercial fishery that would cause it to
decline more than overall biological production would decline. The tra-
ditional fishery was concentrated in the largest basin, which was certain
to experience the greatest deprivation from diversion. As production po-
tential fell, fishermen would see their yields per unit of fishing effort
decline. No evidence of overfishing yet existed, but many marginal op-
erators would probably leave the fishery if faced with a need to increase
their effort substantially. The scientists expected an overall decrease of
13% in commercial yield. Lakewide average biological production was
expected to decline by 10%. The declines were forecast on the basis of
expected redistributions of nutrient income from the Churchill River. They
OCR for page 321
RAISING THE LEVEL OF A SUBARCTIC LAKE
321
applied to the long-term, steady-state outcome of the manipulation. Greater
uncertainty was attached to short-term responses, and statements on that
matter were largely qualitative.
Early in the study, the federal-provincial study board had identified the
need for long-term ecological monitoring of the impact areas. Hecky and
his colleagues at the Freshwater Institute initiated their own case study of
the Southern Indian Lake reservoir in 1974 with the preimpoundment
work. The operational regimen has been roughly that considered by the
impact study, so predictions can legitimately be compared with results.
The lake provides a good opportunity to evaluate scientific judgments
retrospectively. The technical results of the decade-long effort were pub-
lished in 17 papers in Volume 41 of the Canadian Journal of Fisheries
and Aquatic Sciences (1984~.
Quantitative predictions had been generally lacking in the impact as-
sessments of 1970 and 1975. The 10% reduction in biological production
offered by Hecky and Ayles was cited repeatedly in the 1975 summary
report as one hard prediction (Lake Winnipeg, Churchill and Nelson Rivers
Study Board, 19751. The lack of postimpoundment case studies in northern
Canada and the absence of verified models for important processes pre-
cluded other precise estimates. The limnologists recommended research
into process models as one way to improve predictions. They had been
forced to rely, as had those who conducted the 1970 study, on results
from reservoirs in temperate and tropical regions. Excellent studies had
been done in Siberia, but those reservoirs were deep, steep-sided im-
poundments, and their physical characteristics differed from those of Southern
Indian Lake. The Siberian reservoirs, for instance, are deep enough to
develop thermal stratification with reduced oxygen in the bottom water
during the summer, but Hecky and Ayles expected no such thermal strat-
ification or deoxygenation in Southern Indian Lake. The potential for
extensive shoreline erosion caused their predictions to differ from con-
ventional wisdom regarding productivity and fish yield in new reservoirs.
In retrospect, the predevelopment predictions were extremely good with
regard to nutrients and algal production. No thermal stratification devel-
oped, and shoreline erosion was extensive (Hecky, 1984; Hecky and
McCullough, 1984; Newbury and McCullough, 1984. The increased nu-
trients from erosion and decay of vegetation increased phosphorus con-
centrations as expected, but turbidity increased also. Physiological studies
revealed that phosphorus deficiency among the algae had been replaced
by light limitation in turbid regions of the lake, and no significant increase
in productivity occurred (Hecky and Guildford, 1984; Planas and Hecky,
1984~. Regions with high transparency showed increased productivity.
Few changes were predicted incorrectly. The notable exception was in
OCR for page 322
322
SELECTED CASE STUDIES
fish recruitment. Both impact assessments had predicted that northern pike
(Esox lucius) would benefit from the increase in habitat associated with
inundation and that the sport fishery would improve. Some short-term
spawning problems were anticipated for walleye (Stizostedion vitreum
vitreum) and the important whitefish, but the fish were expected to exploit
new spawning grounds and to recover. Esox in fact experienced no increase
in survival or growth, and the commercial whitefish fishery collapsed
(Bodaly and Lesack, 1984; Bodaly et al., 1984b).
Loss of the viable commercial fishery in Southern Indian Lake was a
blow to the local economy, and it had been unexpected. The reasons for
the change are complex, but they were anticipated in part by Hecky and
Ayles (1974~. The catch per unit effort indeed declined on the traditional
fishing grounds, to about half the preflooding value. Total catches were
maintained by major increases in total fishing effort. The fishermen also
began to exploit regions that had previously been avoided because the fish
were of lower marketability, being darker and having higher rates of
cestode infestation. The lower-quality fish made up 12-72% of the summer
catch in the years after impoundment, whereas they were insignificant
components of the original fishery. In 1982, the lake was changed from
"export" to "continental" classification, and the commercial value of
the catch plummeted. Total catch eventually fell to one-third of its preim-
poundment size as many operators abandoned the fishery (Bodaly et al.,
1984b; Wagner, 19841.
The catch declines apparently stemmed from migrations of fish away
from traditional fishing grounds. Genetic markers measured among
whitefish stocks before and after impoundment indicate that stocks became
redistributed when normal flow patterns were altered. There is an indi-
cation of net emigration of whitefish from Southern Indian Lake. Com-
pensation payments to commercial fishermen by Manitoba Hydro subsidized
their efforts from 1977 to 1982. Without the payments, production costs
would have exceeded fishery revenues. In 1982, Manitoba Hydro provided
a one-time cash settlement of Can$2.5 million for all future losses (Bodaly
et al., 1984b).
The fishery problems were not confined to collapse of the commercial
enterprise. Changes had been triggered by physical manipulations that
proved more far-reaching and persistent than anyone expected. The shore-
line of Southern Indian Lake had been bedrock-controlled; 76G%o of the
shore was exposed granite or gneiss. After flooding, only 14% of the new
shore consisted of bedrock. Erosion had been expected by everyone, but
not of the scale and duration produced when lakewater melted the perma-
frost. The shoreline retreated at up to 12 m/year. Lakewater melted and
undercut the backshore zone, and that resulted in massive faulting of the
OCR for page 323
RAISING THE LEVEL OF A SUBARCTIC LAKE
323
overhanging shoreline. Newbury and McCullough (1984) predicted that
it would take at least 35 years for the shoreline to be eroded to preflooding
conditions and that high rates of sediment input from inundation would
persist for decades.
The continuing flooding of terrestrial areas posed a new threat to fish-
eries, this time presenting a health hazard for domestic consumers. The
flooded soils released mercury, which became concentrated particularly
in the piscivorous northern pike and walleye (Bodaly et al., 1984a).
Increased mercury concentrations are a common consequence of reservoir
creation, but the phenomenon has been recognized only within the last
decade (Abernathy and Cumbie, 1 977; Cox et al., 1979; Kent and Johnson,
1979; Potter et al., 1975~. Soils need not be rich in mercury, and indeed
the Southern Indian Lake source materials have a low or average mercury
content (Bodaly et al., 1984a). Bacterial methylation of inorganic mercury
salts mobilizes the element, and it then associates with particles. Muscle
mercury concentrations in the walleye and northern pike now exceed the
Canadian marketing standards (0.5 ppm) and will probably remain in-
creased for years.
A few other unexpected changes occurred. Mean lake temperatures
decreased, owing to increased mean depth, river diversion, greater surface
reflectance, and backscattering of incident solar radiation from the turbid
water (Hecky, 19841. The zooplankton community changed, too (Patalas
and Salki, 19841. The large-bodied crustacean Mysis relicta, formerly
rare, became common. Large-bodied calanoid copepods like Limnoca-
lanus macrurus increased. Cladocerans and small copepods decreased.
Patalas and Salki ascribed the changes primarily to lower water temper-
atures and increased water depth, which enlarged the habitat of generally
deep-dwelling species. They regarded an overall decrease in the abundance
and biomass of crustacean zooplankton to be a consequence of the di-
version-related temperature decrease. Lower temperatures slow growth
and development rates of both eggs and juveniles. The patterns suggest,
moreover, that predation pressure from planktivorous fish decreased and
that predatory invertebrates became an important force in the case of the
plankton. The decline in predation by fish could reflect a decrease in
stocks or unsuccessful foraging due to turbidity.
The changes in the zooplankton community in Southern Indian Lake
parallel some of the changes that occurred in Lake Tahoe when Mysis
was introduced (Goldman et al., 1979; Richards et al., 19751. It seems
reasonable to ascribe the changes in zooplankton, including Limnocalanus
and Mysis, to declines in fish stocks and foraging success. The findings
are united with recent events in Lake Washington by the major theme in
zooplankton community ecology of the last 2 decades, which emerged in
OCR for page 324
324
SELECTED CASE STUDIES
the seminal works of Hrbacek (Hrbacek, 1962; Hrbacek et al., 1961) and
Brooks and Dodson (19651: that the introduction of planktivorous fish
causes wholesale alterations of species composition and size distribution
in zooplankton communities. That zooplankton communities are shaped
by the size-selective predatory behavior of fish is well established (Gal-
braith, 1967; Hall et al., 1976; Lynch, 1979; O'Brien, 1979; Wells, 1970;
Zaret, 19801. The proximate mechanism is prey conspicuousness (Zaret,
1972; Zaret and Kerfoot, 1975; Zaret and Suffern, 19761. Much of the
recent excitement in zooplankton community ecology has come from in-
vestigations of community structure in the absence of fish. Brooks and
Dodson had used allometric estimates of metabolism and feeding to support
their "size-efficiency hypothesis"-i.e., large animals simply outcom-
pete small ones through economies of scale. Others contested that claim
and argued with convincing empirical support that predation by inverte-
brates could eliminate small species (Dodson, 1974; Kerfoot, 1977; Zaret,
19751. Unlike vertebrates, these predators rely on mechanoreception to
detect their prey and manipulate the prey to consume it. This type of
predation by invertebrates, mostly insect larvae and predatory crustacean
zooplankton, has been linked to much morphological variation including
cyclomorphosis-within the taxa that they prey on (Halbach, 1971; Jacobs,
1965; Zaret, 1972~.
Large invertebrate predators can thrive in the absence of fish, feeding
on small-bodied animals and the juvenile stages of larger taxa. Large-
bodied zooplankton have an advantage, particularly if they can produce
large eggs and boost their offspring past the vulnerable juvenile period.
When planktivorous fish abound, the invertebrate predators are held in
check; so, too, are large herbivores. The small-bodied animals are released
from predation. They might come to dominate the assemblage, even though
the fish might eventually be forced to turn to them as prey (Brooks, 19681.
This explanation probably figures in the events in Southern Indian Lake,
~ltho.lah P~t~ln~ ~nr1 Salki (1984) regarded the direct physiological effects
~ ~-~ ~ _ O ~ ~ ~ , ~
of temperature to be dominant.
Hecky and colleagues undertook in 1984 their own retrospective analysis
of environmental impact prediction and assessment based on their expe-
rience with Southern Indian Lake (Hecky et al., 19841. Scientists who
had formulated the original predictions and then used the experiment to
advance understanding provided their scientific insights into the limitations
and capabilities of the prediction process. They conceded, for instance,
that the 1970 "office" study was nearly as effective in forecasting impacts
as was the 1975 study after a year of field work. Improved precision in
the 1975 study resulted in part from having a better definition of the
project. Hecky and colleagues concluded that both assessments were of
OCR for page 325
RAISING THE LEVEL OF A SUBARCTIC LAKE
325
only marginal overall utility, because significant impacts had not been
predicted and because even the correct predictions had often been quali-
tative. Qualitative statements could not enter the quantitative cost-benefit
analyses that influence major resource development.
The field study had proved invaluable, nonetheless, primarily as the
means to document the baseline conditions in the lake. Without such data,
any followup study might have been meaningless, and compensation pay-
ments might have been more difficult to arrange. The field study, in
essence r~rovided insurance against unpredicted adverse environmental
-7 rim
impacts (Hecky et al., 1984~.
Three-meter impoundment was selected because of the high cost of
accessory "saddle" dams that are needed to contain high-level impound-
ment and because the 1970 study had suggested that the effects of the
originally planned 10-m impoundment might be too severe. The authors
of the 1970 study had assumed that effects were proportional to the mag-
nitude of manipulation. A 3-m change was assumed to have smaller effect
than a 10-m change. In fact, impoundment levels greater than 3 m would
have produced effects only slightly worse than actually occurred, because
severe shoreline erosion began as soon as the natural range of water levels
was exceeded and the impounded water entered the previously frozen
backshore zone.
The Freshwater Institute scientists bemoaned the lack of suitable analog
studies and the limitations of current reservoir paradigms. Conventional
wisdom and expectations were based on experience with deep riverine
basins with limited wind fetches. Indigenous biological processes had been
emphasized nearly to the exclusion of physical forces. The most likely
analog candidates either lacked permafrost features or had little fine-
grained erodable material on the shores. In the absence of examples or
experience, it was difficult for the scientists to judge the importance of
these novel characteristics. However, they developed empirical relations
between energy and erosion and can now use shoreline maps and mete-
orological records to predict lake volumes after erosion (Newbury and
McCullough, 19841. Southern Indian Lake has changed the understanding
of reservoir dynamics.
Responses at higher trophic levels showed the greatest failures of pre-
diction. Hecky et al. (1984) rejected the notion that the responses are
intrinsically unpredictable. They argued instead that possible responses,
unless parts of existing paradigms, tend to be overlooked or considered
only rarely. Hecky et al. seemed to blame themselves for not anticipating
the problems with fishery quality and with mercury contamination, in-
asmuch as elements of the logical puzzle were already in their grasp. They
suggested that they were on surest ground when predicting energy flow,
OCR for page 326
326
SELECTED CASE STUDIES
biomass, and general trophic relations, but that species-level predictions
are elusive. Their most severe criticism was that they learned that current
impact assessment was incomplete and unacceptable. They could also
have mentioned that their studies opened the door to new understanding
of reservoir processes and functions.
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loading concept in limnology. Schweiz. Z. Hydrol. 37:53-84.
Wagner, M. W. 1984. Postimpoundment change in financial performance of the Southern
Indian Lake commercial fishery. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 41:715-719.
Wells, L. 1970. Effects of alewife predation on zooplankton populations in Lake Michigan.
Limnol. Oceanogr. 14:556-565.
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328
SELECTED CASE STUDIES
Zaret, T. M. 1972. Predators, invisible prey, and the nature of polymorphism in the
Cladocera (Class Crustacea). Limnol. Oceanogr. 17:171-184.
Zaret, T. M. 1975. Strategies for existence of zooplankton prey in homogeneous env~ron-
ments. Verb. Int. Verein. Limnol. 19: 1484-1489.
Zaret, T. M. 1980. Predation and freshwater communities. Yale University Press, New
Haven, Conn.
Zaret, T. M., and W. C. Kerfoot. 1975. Fish predation on Bosmina longirostris: Body-
size selection versus visibility selection. Ecology 56:232-237.
Zaret, T. M., and J. S. Suffern. 1976. Vertical migration in zooplanlcton as a predator
avoidance mechanism. Limnol. Oceanogr. 21:804-813.
Committee Comment
L.ike the Lake Washington work (Chapter 20)
Q^~3th^~ I; ~ ~1 ~ ~_11_ J ~
, the investigation of
-~11~111 ~llu~al~ ~c `;~11~(1 on scientists to use nearly all the sources of
ecological knowledge identified in this case study. Freshwater Institute
scientists were explicit at the outset about using impoundment and diver
sion as an experiment in reservoir processes. They coordinated and focused
scientific and technical talent on a scale rarely achieved in such ventures.
Productivity of fish and plankton communities was a dominant theme of
the biological investigations. The observational program was designed to
study spatial differences in the dendritic basin and to identify regions that
were influenced, either positively or negatively, by the physical manip
ulation. The specific incorporation of genetic markers into the study of
whitefish populations (Bodaly et al., 1984), for instance, made it possible
to document the redistribution and migration of stocks.
Productivity and biomass were the measures of choice for all trophic
levels, because they reduce biological entities and rates to a common
currency. For a study that encompasses an entire ecosystem, such a com-
mon means of presentation of data is necessary. Nonetheless, events in
Southern Indian Lake are traceable to the life histories and physiological
and behavioral characteristics of individual interacting populations. In-
creased turbidity and lowered lake temperatures triggered biological re-
sponses in ways not explainable strictly by thermodynamics or mass flux
alone. Temperature affects the rates of metabolic and developmental pro-
cesses, and inorganic particles in suspension attenuate light that would
otherwise be available for photosynthesis. Turbidity, moreover, obscures
the vision of predators that hunt by sight and reduces the risk to their
preferred prey. The experiment in Southern Indian Lake apparently intro-
duced manipulations at both the base and the apex of the food web. Primary
producers were affected by the altered light and by changes in nutrient
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RAISING THE LEVEL OF A SUBARCTIC LAKE
329
input. Whereas selection might have operated for species adept at nutrient
acquisition before impoundment, the postimpoundment community clearly
was governed by light limitation (Hecky and Guildford, 19844. One would
expect changes in species composition, and the phytoplankton community
showed such changes (H. Kling, personal communication, cited by Patalas
and Salki, 19841.
The increase in large-bodied crustaceans suggests that predatory pres-
sure on the species had relaxed. Deeper, more turbid water provided a
refuge from the fish. The predatory behavior of these large zooplankters,
in turn, could have contributed to the decline in cladocerans and small
copepods reported by Patalas and Salki (19841. Effects of the manipulation
thus became focused on the small herbivores, beset on the one side by
abundant carnivorous zooplankton and on the other by reduced abundance
of phytoplankton owing to the new light regime. The cladocerans declined
by 75% and small cyclopoid copepods by 50% (Patalas and Salki, 19841.
In contrast with the alterations of the plankton communities, little or
no change occurred among the profundal macrobenthos (Wiens and Ro-
senberg, 1984~. The benthic organisms seemed to be influenced principally
by the input of organic material from the Churchill River or from shoreline
erosion and thus to be divorced from biological interactions in the turbid
waters. The scientific papers include no discussion of meroplanktonic taxa
like Chaoborus, which can enter the plankton each night and are known
to be influenced by planktivorous fish (e.g., Northcote et al., 19781. If
fish predation were substantially relaxed, these species would likely be
affected.
The professional publications produced as a result of the Southern Indian
Lake study are valuable contributions to current knowledge about reservoir
processes. The environmental manipulation was an experiment that had
never been tried previously. Most of the results could be guessed only
qualitatively, if at all. From a strictly scientific point of view, the project
was exploited very profitably, in that new principles were uncovered and
present paradigms have been enriched. But the knowledge was gained at
a cost: the native peoples of the Southern Indian Lake region who suffered
the loss of livelihood and threats to the quality of their food did not share
in the scientific adventure. Hecky and colleagues seemed to regret most
their inability to forecast the fisheries problems the eventual compen-
sation program was somewhat arbitrary and inequitable. Had they pre-
dicted the decline in fishery quality and the hazards associated with mercury,
the forecast need not have halted the experiment, but might have led to
a well-planned agreement for adequate and just compensation. Such a
plan could very easily have entered the cost-benefit analysis of the project.
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330
SELECTED CASE STUDIES
References
Bodaly, R.A., T. W. D. Johnson, R. J. P. Fudge, and J. W. Clayton. 1984. Collapse of
the lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) fishery in Southern Indian Lake, Manitoba,
following lake impoundment and river diversion. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 41:692-700.
Hecky, R. E., and S. J. Guildford. 1984. Primary productivity of Southern Indian Lake
before, during, and after impoundment and Churchill River Diversion. Can. J. Fish.
Aquat. Sci. 41:591-604.
Northcote, T. G., C. J. Walters, and J. M. B. Hume. 1978. Initial impacts of experimental
fish introductions on the macrozooplankton of small oligotrophic lakes. Proc. Int. Assoc.
Theor. Appl. Limnol. 20:2003-2012.
Patalas, K., and A. Salki. 1984. Effects of impoundment and diversion on the crustacean
plankton of Southern Indian Lake. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 41:613-637.
Wiens, A. P., and D. M. Rosenberg. 1984. Effect of impoundment and river diversion on
profundal macrobenthos of Southern Indian Lake, Manitoba. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci.
41 :638-648.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
indian lake
