Impact of extreme coastal events on a brackish lake on the Burin Peninsula, Newfoundland, Canada.

ABSTRACT

The impacts of extreme coastal events (ECEs), such as marine inundations or extreme wind events, on lake ecosystems vary widely from minimal to catastrophic. Accurately predicting the response of a specific system remains challenging due to a limited understanding of the attributes that drive the resilience of lakes. In an attempt to better understand the possible impacts of ECEs on shallow brackish lakes, we employed a paleolimnological approach to reconstruct the responses of Broad Pond to four ECEs identifiable from clear sedimentary markers and dated to ca. 1740, 1790, 1862, and 1993 CE. We aimed to evaluate the overall impacts of ECEs on Broad Pond and their specific effects on various hydrobiont groups. We reinvestigated a previously studied sediment core covering the last ca. 400 years by examining terrestrial and aquatic pollen, spores and non-pollen palynomorphs, cladocerans, and chironomids. Additionally, available diatom data were reexamined. Overall, Broad Pond exhibited resilient responses to ECEs, as indicated by mostly limited compositional turnovers in our proxy records. Statistically significant relationships between species composition and ECEs were observed only for diatoms. The only prolonged change identified is the spread of previously near-absent chironomids in the aftermath of a slight lake refreshment likely associated with the ca. 1740 CE event. This event was also followed by a short-lived (ca. 15 years) five-fold increase in the abundance of Scenedesmus that could have been triggered by the effects of the ECE on nutrient availability. The impact of the remaining three ECEs was discernible only in the diatom record, consistently showing a decline in two calcifobic and oligotrophic species, Achnanthidium petersenii and Platessa oblongella, also evident for the ca. 1740 CE event. The relatively minor ecosystem alteration induced by ECEs in Broad Pond lacks a single explanation and requires consideration of multiple site- and event-specific factors.