, 2008), and timber harvesting (e g Van Furl et al , 2010) Stud

, 2008), and timber harvesting (e.g. Van Furl et al., 2010). Studies relating land use with records of lake sedimentation are typically limited to one or a few lake catchments because of the high cost and logistical effort associated with sediment recovery and dating, on top of additional biological/chemical/physical analyses. A global review of lake sediment-based studies by Dearing and Jones (2003) investigated large-scale

patterns of sediment flux and the impact of land use and climate change on those sedimentary records. PLX-4720 mw In that review, it was observed that with few exceptions, climate impacts were largely subordinate to land use impacts for smaller catchments (<103 km2) and that the magnitude of sedimentation

increase was typically 5- to 10-fold relative to pre-disturbance rates. Dearing and Jones (2003) note that greater increases in sedimentation rates are qualitatively associated with greater land use intensities, but the high variability in the resolution, quality, and expression of reconstructed sediment BIBF 1120 cost flux data complicates inter-catchment comparison. Rose et al. (2011) provide another large-scale review of lake sedimentation trends in Europe where consistent chronological control had been obtained for the last ≈150 years by 210Pb dating. By homogenizing the data into 25-year classes since 1850, they show that there has been a general acceleration in sedimentation rates during the second half of the 20th century. These increases in lowland regions are ascribed to land use impacts, including both allochthonous and autochthonous sediment sources, associated primarily with agricultural activities and eutrophication effects, respectively. The underlying causes for increased

sedimentation in upland lakes was less clear and climate change may be a factor. Results from Rose et al. (2011) are congruent with Dearing and Jones (2003), with Depsipeptide 5- to 10-fold increases in sedimentation being relatively common and generally associated with land use; although, magnitudes of land use impacts within the study catchments were not quantitatively described. A large (>100 lake catchments) and consistent database of lake sedimentation can be obtained for western Canada by combining inventories developed by Spicer (1999), Schiefer et al. (2001a), and Schiefer and Immell (2012). For all three of these studies, 210Pb was used for reconstructing sediment accumulation rates over most or all of the 20th century for the primarily purpose of assessing land use impacts on sedimentation. A useful characteristic of these studies is that they all incorporated detailed spatiotemporal records of land use disturbances for all of the study catchments in Geographic Information System (GIS) databases. The dominant land use impact in the studies was timber harvesting and associated road development during the mid- to late-20th century.

Comments are closed.