Environmental variables measured in 624 lakes across Canada

The file “LakePluse_env_624lakes.csv” contains environmental variables from 624 sampled as part of the NSERC Canadian Lake Pulse Network project over three summers (2017-2018-2019). Lake morphometry variables were either measured on site (lake depth), or obtained from HydroLAKES v. 1.0 (Messager et al. 2016). Water quality variables (water physical and chemical properties) were collected or measured at the deepest point of each lake, following the protocols from the NSERC Canadian Lake Pulse Network (2021). Watershed land use fractions were characterized for each lake, as described by Huot et al. (2019). Variables sampling depth and units are described in “metadata_variables.xlsx”.

The file “fishTL_314lakes.csv" contains fish data in a subset of 314 lakes. Fish presence-data was collected as part of the FishHab project (fishab.weebly.com). Species trophic position were obtained using FishBase (https://www.fishbase.se/), and the highest trophic level was recorded for each lake (maxTL). Fish species were assigned a trophic position of piscivore (trophic level or TL > 3.5) or planktivore (TL ≤ 3.5) based on FishBase classification of known planktivore and piscivore species (adult stages). The total number of piscivore and planktivore taxa were then recorded for each lake.

Lakes IDs with respective locations (longitude and latitude coordinates) and Continental Basin allocations can be found here: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4701262

References

Huot, Y., C. A. Brown, G. Potvin, and others. 2019. The NSERC Canadian Lake Pulse Network: A national assessment of lake health providing science for water management in a changing climate. Sci. Total Environ. 695: 133668. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.133668

Messager, M. L., B. Lehner, G. Grill, I. Nedeva, and O. Schmitt. 2016. Estimating the volume and age of water stored in global lakes using a geo-statistical approach. Nat. Commun. 7: 1–11. doi:10.1038/ncomms13603

NSERC Canadian Lake Pulse Network. 2021. NSERC Canadian Lake Pulse Network field manual 2017 - 2018 - 2019 surveys, M.-P. Varin, M.-L. Beaulieu, and Y. Huot [eds.]. Université de Sherbrooke.