Brooktrout Lake case study: biotic recovery from acid deposition 20 years after the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments.

The Adirondack Mountain region is an extensive geographic area (26,305 km(2)) in upstate New York where acid deposition has negatively affected water resources for decades and caused the extirpation of local fish populations. The water quality decline and loss of an established brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis [Mitchill]) population in Brooktrout Lake were reconstructed from historical information dating back to the late 1880s. Water quality and biotic recovery were documented in Brooktrout Lake in response to reductions of S deposition during the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s and provided a unique scientific opportunity to re-introduce fish in 2005 and examine their critical role in the recovery of food webs affected by acid deposition. Using C and N isotope analysis of fish collagen and state hatchery feed as well as Bayesian assignment tests of microsatellite genotypes, we document in situ brook trout reproduction, which is the initial phase in the restoration of a preacidification food web structure in Brooktrout Lake. Combined with sulfur dioxide emissions reductions promulgated by the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, our results suggest that other acid-affected Adirondack waters could benefit from careful fish re-introduction protocols to initiate the ecosystem reconstruction of important components of food web dimensionality and functionality.

Aquastella gen. nov.: a new genus of saprolegniaceous oomycete rotifer parasites related to Aphanomyces, with unique sporangial outgrowths.

The oomycete genus Aquastella is described to accommodate two new species of parasites of rotifers observed in Brooktrout Lake, New York State, USA. Three rotifer species--Keratella taurocephala, Polyarthra vulgaris, and Ploesoma truncatum--were infected, and this is the first report of oomycete infection in these species. Aquastella attenuata was specific to K. taurocephala and Aquastella acicularis was specific to P. vulgaris and P. truncatum. The occurrence of infections correlated with peak host population densities and rotifers were infected in the upper layers of the water column. Sequencing of 18S rRNA and phylogenetic analysis of both species placed them within the order Saprolegniales, in a clade closely related to Aphanomyces. The Aquastella species were morphologically distinct from other rotifer parasites as the developing sporangia penetrated out through the host body following its death to produce unique tapered outgrowths. Aquastella attenuata produced long, narrow, tapering, finger-like outgrowths, whilst A. acicularis produced shorter, spike-like outgrowths. We hypothesize that the outgrowths serve to deter predation and slow descent in the water column. Spore cleavage was intrasporangial with spore release through exit tubes. Aquastella attenuata produced primary zoospores, whereas A. acicularis released spherical primary aplanospores, more typical of other genera in the Aphanomyces clade.