Developing temporal hydroecological perspectives to inform stewardship of a northern floodplain landscape subject to multiple stressors: Paleolimnological investigations of the Peace-Athabasca Delta

Environmental Reviews

Volumn 20, Issue 3, 2012, Pages 191-210

  Wolfe, Brent B ^a   Hall, Roland I ^b   Edwards, Thomas W D ^b   Johnston, John W ^c  

^a WILFRID LAURIER UNIVERSITY   (Canada)

^b UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO   (Canada)

^c UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO   (Canada)

Author keywords

Climate change; Ecosystem stewardship; Environmental flows; Floodplain landscapes; Hydroecology; Paleolimnology; Peace Athabasca Delta; Water resource management

Indexed keywords

ENVIRONMENTAL FLOW; FLOOD PLAINS; HYDRO-ECOLOGY; PALEOLIMNOLOGY; PEACE-ATHABASCA DELTAS; WATERRESOURCE MANAGEMENT;

BANKS (BODIES OF WATER); CLIMATE CHANGE; ECOLOGY; FLOODS; LAKES; WATER LEVELS; WATER MANAGEMENT;

RIVERS;

EID: 84865746892     PISSN: 11818700     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1139/a2012-008     Document Type: Review

References (61)

1. Beltaos S. Prowse T.D. Bonsal B.R. MacKay R. Romolo L.A. Pietroniro A. Toth B. 2006 a. Climatic effects on ice-jam flooding of the Peace-Athabasca Delta. Hydrol. Processes, 20 (19): 4031-4050. 10.1002/hyp.6418
2. Beltaos S. Prowse T.D. Carter T. 2006 b. Ice regime of the lower Peace River and ice-jam flooding of the Peace-Athabasca Delta. Hydrol. Processes, 20 (19): 4009-4029. 10.1002/hyp.6417
3. Brock B.E. Wolfe B.B. Edwards T.W.D. 2008. Spatial and temporal perspectives on spring break-up flooding in the Slave River Delta, NWT. Hydrol. Processes, 22 (20): 4058-4072. 10.1002/hyp.7008
4. Brock B.E. Yi Y. Clogg-Wright K.P. Edwards T.W.D. Wolfe B.B. 2009. Multi-year landscape-scale assessment of lakewater balances in the Slave River Delta, NWT, using water isotope tracers. J. Hydrol. (Amst.), 379 (1-2): 81-91. 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2009.09.046
5. Clague J.J. Menounos B. Osborn G. Luckman B.H. Koch J. 2009. Nomenclature and resolution in Holocene glacial chronologies. Quat. Sci. Rev. 28 (21-22): 2231-2238. 10.1016/j.quascirev.2008.11.016
6. Dyson, M., Bergkamp, G., and Scanlon, J. (Editors). 2003. Flow. The essentials of environmental flows. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. xiv + 118 pp.
7. Ecostat Geobotanical Surveys. 1988. LANDSAT MSS imagery analysis of habitat type changes in 1976, 1981 & 1985 for the Peace-Athabasca Delta, Alberta. Report submitted to Wood Buffalo National Park, Parks Canada.
8. Edwards, T.W.D., Wolfe, B.B., Gibson, J.J., and Hammarlund, D. 2004. Use of water isotope tracers in high-latitude hydrology and paleohydrology. In Long-term environmental change in arctic and antarctic lakes. Developments in Paleoenvironmental Research, Vol. 7. Edited by R. Pienitz, M. Douglas, and J.P. Smol. Springer, Dordrecht. pp. 187-207.
9. Edwards T.W.D. Birks S.J. Luckman B.H. MacDonald G.M. 2008. Climatic and hydrologic variability during the past millennium in the eastern Rocky Mountains and northern Great Plains of western Canada. Quat. Res. 70 (2): 188-197. 10.1016/j.yqres.2008.04.013
10. Environment Canada. 2011. Integrated monitoring program for the oil sands: Expanded geographic extent for water quality and quantity, aquatic biodiversity and effects, and acid-sensitive lake component. Minister of the Environment Cat. No.: En14-49/2011E-PDF.
11. Hall, R.I., Wolfe, B.B., and Edwards, T.W.D. 2004. A multi-century flood, climatic, and ecological history of the Peace-Athabasca Delta, northern Alberta, Canada, final report, 163 pp., BC Hydro, Vancouver, B.C., Canada.
12. Jarvis, S.R. 2008. Reconstruction of Peace River flood frequency and magnitude for the past ~600 years from oxbow lake sediments, Peace-Athabasca Delta, Canada. M.Sc. thesis, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo.
13. Johnston J.W. Köster D. Wolfe B.B. Hall R.I. Edwards T.W.D. Endres A.L. Martin M.E. Wiklund J.A. Light C. 2010. Quantifying Lake Athabasca (Canada) water level during the 'Little Ice Age' highstand from paleolimnological and geophysical analyses of a transgressive barrier-beach complex. Holocene, 20 (5): 801-811. [Also see Johnston, J.W., Köster, D., Wolfe, B.B., Hall, R.I., Edwards, T.W.D., Endres, A.L., Martin, M.E., Wiklund, J.A., and Light, C. 2010. Erratum. The Holocene 20: 812.] 10.1177/0959683610362816
14. Junk W.J. 2005. Flood pulsing and the linkages between terrestrial, aquatic, and wetland systems. Verh. Int. Ver. Theor. Angew. Limnol. 29: 11-38.
15. Kellerhals, R. 1971. Factors controlling level of Lake Athabasca. In Proceedings of the Peace-Athabasca Delta Symposium, Edmonton, Alberta, 14-15 January 1971. Editorial Committee: E.R. Reinelt, R. Kellerhals, M.A. Molot, W.M. Schultz, and W.E. Stevens. University of Alberta Press, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. pp. 57-109.
16. Lapp S. Byrne J. Townshend I. Kienzle S. 2005. Climate warming impacts on snowpack accumulation in an alpine watershed. Int. J. Climatol. 25 (4): 521-536. 10.1002/joc.1140
17. Lebel, M., Maas, T., and Powell, R. 2011. Securing environmental flows in the Athabasca River. Report, 26 pp., World Wildlife Fund, Toronto, Ont., Canada.
18. Leng, M.J., Lamb, A.L., Heaton, T.H.E., Marshall, J.D., Wolfe, B.B., Jones, M.D., Holmes, J.A., and Arrowsmith, C. 2006. Isotopes in lake sediments. In Isotopes in palaeoenvironmental research. Developments in Paleoenvironmental Research, Vol. 10. Edited by M.J. Leng. Springer, Dordrecht. pp. 147-184.
19. McGowan S. Leavitt P.R. Hall R.I. Wolfe B.B. Edwards T.W.D. Karst-Riddoch T. Vardy S.R. 2011. Interdecadal declines in flood frequency increase primary production in lakes of a northern river delta. Glob. Change Biol. 17 (2): 1212-1224. 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2010.02304.x
20. Mollard, J.D., Mollard, D.G., Penner, L.A., Cosford, J.I., and Zimmer, T.A.M. 2002. Peace-Athabasca Delta geomorphology: an assessment of geomorphic change over time. Report to BC Hydro, 131 pp.
21. Peace-Athabasca Delta Project Group (PADPG). 1972. The Peace-Athabasca Delta: a Canadian resource. Summary Report. 144 pp.
22. Peace-Athabasca Delta Project Group (PADPG). 1973. Peace-Athabasca Delta Project, technical report and appendices. Vol. 1, Hydrological Investigations; Vol. 2, Ecological Investigations.
23. Peace-Athabasca Delta Technical Studies (PADTS). 1996. Final Report. PADTS Steering Committee, Fort Chipewyan, Alberta; 106 pp.
24. Pederson G.T. Gray S.T. Woodhouse C.A. Betancourt J.L. Fagre D.B. Littell J.S. Watson E. Luckman B.H. Graumlich L.J. 2011. The unusual nature of recent snowpack declines in the North American Cordillera. Science, 333 (6040): 332-335. 10.1126/science.1201570 21659569
25. Peters, D.L. 2003. Controls on the persistence of water in perched basins of a northern delta. Ph.D. thesis, Trent University, Peterborough.
26. Peters D.L. Prowse T.D. 2001. Regulation effects on the lower Peace River, Canada. Hydrol. Processes, 15 (16): 3181-3194. 10.1002/hyp.321
27. Peters D.L. Prowse T.D. 2006. Generation of streamflow to seasonal high waters in a freshwater delta, northwestern Canada. Hydrol. Processes, 20 (19): 4173-4196. 10.1002/hyp.6425
28. Peters D.L. Prowse T.D. Marsh P. Lafleur P.M. Buttle J.M. 2006 a. Persistence of water within perched basins of the Peace-Athabasca Delta, northern Canada. Wetlands Ecol. Manage. 14 (3): 221-243. 10.1007/s11273-005- 1114-1
29. Peters D.L. Prowse T.D. Pietroniro A. Leconte R. 2006 b. Flood hydrology of the Peace-Athabasca Delta, northern Canada. Hydrol. Processes, 20 (19): 4073-4096. 10.1002/hyp.6420
30. Peterson, M. 1995. Peace-Athabasca Delta flood history study. Task F.1 of the Peace-Athabasca Delta Technical Studies: Fort Chipewyan, Alberta.
31. Prowse T.D. Conly F.M. 1998. Impacts of climatic variability and flow regulation on ice-jam flooding of a northern delta. Hydrol. Processes, 12 (10-11): 1589-1610. 10.1002/(SICI)1099-1085(199808/09)12:10/11<1589::AID- HYP683>3.0.CO;2-G
32. Prowse T.D. Conly F.M. 2000. Multiple-hydrologic stressors of a northern delta ecosystem. J. Aquat. Ecosyst. Stress Recovery, 8 (1): 17-26. 10.1023/A:1011483504849
33. Prowse T.D. Conly F.M. 2002. A review of hydroecological results of the Northern River Basins Study, Canada, Part 2. Peace-Athabasca Delta. River Res. Appl. 18 (5): 447-460. 10.1002/rra.682
34. Prowse T.D. Lalonde V. 1996. Open-water and ice-jam flooding of a northern delta. Nord. Hydrol. 27: 85-100.
35. Prowse T.D. Conly F.M. Church M. English M.C. 2002. A review of hydroecological results of the Northern River Basins Study, Canada. Part 1. Peace and Slave Rivers. River Res. Appl. 18 (5): 429-446. 10.1002/rra.681
36. Prowse T.D. Beltaos S. Gardner J.T. Gibson J.J. Granger R.J. LeConte R. Peters D.L. Pietroniro A. Romolo L.A. Toth B. 2006. Climate change, flow regulation and land-use effects on the hydrology of the Peace-Athabasca-Slave system; findings from the Northern Rivers Ecosystem Initiative. Environ. Monit. Assess. 113 (1-3): 167-197. 10.1007/s10661-005-9080-x 16520874
37. Rasouli K. Hernández-Henríquez M.A. Déry S.J. 2012. Streamflow input to Lake Athabasca, Canada. Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss. 9: 9065-9093. 10.5194/hessd-9-9065-2012
38. Romolo L.A. Prowse T.D. Blair D. Bonsal B.R. Marsh P. Martz W.L. 2006 a. The synoptic climate controls on hydrology in the upper reaches of the Peace River Basin. Part II: Snow ablation. Hydrol. Processes, 20 (19): 4113-4129. 10.1002/hyp.6422
39. Romolo L.A. Prowse T.D. Blair D. Bonsal B.R. Martz W.L. 2006 b. The synoptic climate controls on hydrology in the upper reaches of the Peace River Basin. Part I: Snow accumulation. Hydrol. Processes, 20 (19): 4097-4111. 10.1002/hyp.6421
40. Sauchyn, D., and Kulshreshtha, S. 2008. Prairies. In From impacts to adaptation: Canada in a changing climate 2007. Edited by D.S. Lemmen et al. Government of Canada, Ottawa. pp. 275-328.
41. Schindler D.W. Donahue W.F. 2006. An impending water crisis in Canada's western prairie provinces. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 103 (19): 7210-7216. 10.1073/pnas.0601568103 16606829
42. Sinnatamby R.N. Yi Y. Sokal M.A. Clogg-Wright K.P. Asada T. Vardy S.R. Karst-Riddoch T.L. Last W.M. Johnston J.W. Hall R.I. Wolfe B.B. Edwards T.W.D. 2010. Historical and paleolimnological evidence for expansion of Lake Athabasca (Canada) during the Little Ice Age. J. Paleolimnol. 43 (4): 705-717. 10.1007/s10933-009-9361-4
43. Smol, J.P. 2008. Pollution of lakes and rivers: a paleoenvironmental perspective. 2nd ed. Blackwell Publishing, Malden, Mass., USA. 383 pp.
44. Stockton C.W. Fritts H.C. 1973. Long-term reconstruction of water level changes for Lake Athabasca by analysis of tree rings. Water Resour. Bull. 9 (5): 1006-1027. 10.1111/j.1752-1688.1973.tb05826.x
45. Timoney K. 2002. A dying delta? A case study of a wetland paradigm. Wetlands, 22 (2): 282-300. 10.1672/0277-5212(2002)022[0282:ADDACS]2.0.CO;2
46. Timoney K. Peterson G. Fargey P. Peterson M. McCanny S. Wein R. 1997. Spring ice-jam flooding of the Peace-Athabasca Delta: evidence of a climatic oscillation. Clim. Change, 35 (4): 463-483. 10.1023/A:1005394031390
47. Townsend G.H. 1975. Impact of the Bennett Dam on the Peace-Athabasca Delta. J. Fish. Res. Board Can. 32: 171-176.
48. Wiklund J.A. Bozinovski N. Hall R.I. Wolfe B.B. 2010. Epiphytic diatoms as flood indicators. J. Paleolimnol. 44 (1): 25-42. 10.1007/s10933-009-9383-y
49. Wiklund J.A. Hall R.I. Wolfe B.B. 2012 a. Timescales of hydrolimnological change in floodplain lakes of the Peace-Athabasca Delta, northern Alberta, Canada. Ecohydrology, 5 (3): 351-367. 10.1002/eco.226
50. Wiklund J.A. Hall R.I. Wolfe B.B. Edwards T.W.D. Farwell A.J. Dixon D.G. 2012 b. Has Alberta oil sands development increased far-field delivery of airborne contaminants to the Peace-Athabasca Delta? Sci. Total Environ. 433: 379-382. 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2012.06.074
51. Wolfe, B.B., Edwards, T.W.D., Elgood, R.J., and Beuning, K.R.M. 2001. Carbon and oxygen isotope analysis of lake sediment cellulose: methods and applications. In Tracking environmental change using lake sediments: physical and chemical techniques. Developments in Paleoenvironmental Research, Vol. 2. Edited by W.M. Last and J.P. Smol. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht. pp. 373-400.
52. Wolfe B.B. Karst-Riddoch T.L. Vardy S.R. Falcone M.D. Hall R.I. Edwards T.W.D. 2005. Impacts of climate and river flooding on the hydro-ecology of a floodplain basin, Peace-Athabasca Delta, Canada since A.D. 1700. Quat. Res. 64 (2): 147-162. 10.1016/j.yqres.2005.05.001
53. Wolfe B.B. Hall R.I. Last W.M. Edwards T.W.D. English M.C. Karst-Riddoch T.L. Paterson A. Palmini R. 2006. Reconstruction of multi-century flood histories from oxbow lake sediments, Peace-Athabasca Delta, Canada. Hydrol. Processes, 20 (19): 4131-4153. 10.1002/hyp.6423
54. Wolfe B.B. Falcone M.D. Clogg-Wright K.P. Mongeon C.L. Yi Y. Brock B.E. St Amour N.A. Mark W.A. Edwards T.W.D. 2007 a. Progress in isotope paleohydrology using lake sediment cellulose. J. Paleolimnol. 37 (2): 221-231. 10.1007/s10933-006-9015-8
55. 2H) and water chemistry. Hydrol. Processes, 21 (2): 151-168. 10.1002/hyp.6229
56. Wolfe B.B. Hall R.I. Edwards T.W.D. Jarvis S.R. Sinnatamby R.N. Yi Y. Johnston J.W. 2008 a. Climate-driven shifts in quantity and seasonality of river discharge over the past 1000 years from the hydrographic apex of North America. Geophys. Res. Lett. 35 (24): L24402. 10.1029/2008GL036125
57. Wolfe B.B. Hall R.I. Edwards T.W.D. Vardy S.R. Falcone M.D. Sjunneskog C. Sylvestre F. McGowan S. Leavitt P.R. van Driel P. 2008 b. Hydroecological responses of the Athabasca Delta, Canada, to changes in river flow and climate during the 20th century. Ecohydrology, 1 (2): 131-148. 10.1002/eco.13
58. Wolfe B.B. Edwards T.W.D. Hall R.I. Johnston J.W. 2011. A 5200-year record of freshwater availability for regions in western North America fed by high-elevation runoff. Geophys. Res. Lett. 38 (11): L11404. 10.1029/2011GL047599
59. Woynillowicz, D., and Severson-Baker, C. 2006. Down to the last drop?: The Athabasca river and oil sands. Oil Sands Issue Paper No 1, 16 pp., Pembina Inst., Ottawa.
60. WWAP (World Water Assessment Programme). 2012. The United Nations World Water Development Report 4: Managing Water under Uncertainty and Risk. Paris, UNESCO.
61. Yi Y. Brock B.E. Falcone M.D. Wolfe B.B. Edwards T.W.D. 2008. A coupled isotope tracer method to characterize input water to lakes. J. Hydrol. (Amst.), 350 (1-2): 1-13. 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2007.11.008