Determining the Sensitivity of High Elevation Lakes in Mount Rainier, North Cascades, and Olympic National Parks to Atmospheric Nitrogen Deposition through Nutrient Enrichment Experiments
Project ID: P13AC00955
Federal Agency: National Park Service
Partner Institution: Washington State University
Fiscal Year: 2013
Initial Funding: $61,464
Total Funding: $71,504
Project Type: Research
Project Disciplines: Biological
National Park: Pacific West Region Washington
Principal Investigator: Beutel, Marc
Agreement Technical Representative: Cummings, Tonnie
Abstract: The 1977 Clean Air Act amendments require the National Park Service (NPS) to protect air quality and air pollution sensitive resources in mandatory Class I air quality areas, which include Mount Rainier (MORA), North Cascades (NOCA) and Olympic (OLYM) National Parks. To help fulfill this responsibility, the NPS needs to determine the ‘critical loads’ or thresholds of pollution that harm park resources. A recent risk assessment identified high elevation ecosystems in MORA, NOCA, and OLYM as potentially sensitive to nutrient enrichment effects associated with atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition. NPS and Washington State University (WSU) will collaborate on a project to identify nitrogen-sensitive lakes at the three parks and determine N critical loads for aquatic resources. In summer 2013, water samples will be collected from the 20 long-term monitoring lakes at the three parks and phytoplankton species composition will be determined for each lake. Results will help determine the distribution of N-sensitive species in park lakes. In situ nutrient enrichment experiments will be performed in three lakes at each park, and will be designed to identify N thresholds for changes in productivity and species composition, identify phytoplankton species unique to high elevation Pacific Northwest lakes that may be indicators of nutrient enrichment effects, and to provide additional information on the prevalence of N versus phosphorus (P) limitation in these lakes.
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