The relationship between zooplankton, conductivity and lake-water ionic composition in 111 lakes from the Interior Plateau of British Columbia, Canada

Zooplankton collected from vertical net tows were related to the environmental variables from 98 lakes from the interior plateau of British Columbia. Canonical correspondence analysis showed that both salinity and ionic composition (pH and Mg) of the lake-water made major and significant contributions to the first two ordination axes ( lambda = 0.42 and 0.11 respectively, P < 0.05). Both Artemia franciscana and Moina hutchinsoni had their highest relative abundance in meso-hypersaline waters. However, Artemia franciscana preferred waters that were higher in Mg and Ca, while Moina hutchinsoni was found in waters that were lower in Mg and Ca. Similarly, at intermediate salinities, Daphnia pulex and the calanoid copepods preferred waters slightly lower in Mg and Ca, whereas Ceriodaphnia laticaudata and Simocephalus spp. were relatively more common in waters higher in Mg and Ca. Because the freshest lakes studied varied much less in ionic composition, the zooplankton in these lakes did not show a preference to ionic composition. As expected, multi-generic groups, such as the calanoid copepods, cyclopoid copepods and nauplii, had wider tolerances to conductivity than groups identified to lower taxonomic levels. Significant weighted-averaging regression and calibration models of conductivity were developed based on zooplankton species composition from the study lakes (r super(2) = 0.56, P < 0.05). Samples composed largely of multi-generic taxa yielded the worst estimates of salinity in the reconstruction model. This study suggests that zooplankton community composition may be developed into a useful proxy for paleosalinity reconstruction.