Data associated with the FLooded Upland Dynamics EXperiment (FLUDEX), conducted at the IISD Experimental Lakes Area 1997 to 2003, investigating reservoir flooding impacts on ecosystems, particularly the release of mercury and greenhouse gases.

The data included in this repository were collected over the course of the FLooded Upland Dynamics Experiment (FLUDEX) conducted at the IISD Experimental Lakes Area (IISD-ELA) from 1997 to 2003. A plethora of data was collected over five years of flooding three upland reservoir sites, in order to examine the relationship between the amount of flooded, and thus decomposed, terrestrial organic matter and the production of methylmercury (MeHg), total mercury (THg), and greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the reservoirs. Findings from this experiment suggest that the amount of organic carbon stored in a flooded site does not directly influence the amount of THg, MeHg, and GHGs produced, but it does affect the persistence of mercury in the reservoir and food web. This version of the repository contains data collected on water chemistry, benthic invertebrate (chironomid) emergence, mercury and methylmercury concentrations in the water and food web, stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen in emerging insects and zooplankton, and abundance and biomass of zooplankton, phytoplankton, and bacteria. This data package contains only some of the data from the FLUDEX project. IISD-ELA hopes to add more data in subsequent versions.