Lake trout otolith chronologies as multidecadal indicators of high-latitude freshwater ecosystems

• Published in: Polar biology 2013, Vol.36 (1), p.147-153
• Main Authors: Black, B. A., von Biela, V. R., Zimmerman, C. E., Brown, R. J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Air temperature; Analysis; Animal and plant ecology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Aquatic ecosystems; Archaeological dating; Biological and medical sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Climate change; Climatology. Bioclimatology. Climate change; Dendrochronology; Earth, ocean, space; Ecology; Exact sciences and technology; External geophysics; Fishes; Fresh water; Fresh water ecosystems; Freshwater; Freshwater ecosystems; Freshwater environments; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General aspects; Global temperature changes; Lakes; Latitude; Life Sciences; Meteorology; Microbiology; Oceanography; Original Paper; Otoliths; Particular ecosystems; Plant Sciences; Salvelinus namaycush; Synecology; Temperature effects; Trout; Zoology
• ISSN: 0722-4060; 1432-2056
• DOI: 10.1007/s00300-012-1245-9

High-latitude ecosystems are among the most vulnerable to long-term climate change, yet continuous, multidecadal indicators by which to gauge effects on biology are scarce, especially in freshwater environments. To address this issue, dendrochronology (tree-ring analysis) techniques were applied to growth-increment widths in otoliths from lake trout ( Salvelinus namaycush ) from the Chandler Lake system, Alaska (68.23°N, 152.70°W). All otoliths were collected in 1987 and exhibited highly synchronous patterns in growth-increment width. Increments were dated, the widths were measured, and age-related growth declines were removed using standard dendrochronology techniques. The detrended time series were averaged to generate an annually resolved chronology, which continuously spanned 1964–1984. The chronology positively and linearly correlated with August air temperature over the 22-year interval ( p