Research in the University of Regina Limnology Laboratory combines experiments, monitoring, modeling and paleoecology to both quantify factors that regulate lake structure and function, and to improve strategies for their protection. Our main research themes and advances are described below, whereas our publications can be accessed via our website.

Paleoecology - UR Limnology was first international research group to use mass-balance and whole-ecosystem experiments to calibrate the use of diatoms, pigments and invertebrates as fossils in lakes. In particular, we pioneered the use of pigments from algae and bacteria as indicators of environmental change and human impacts, including novel compounds that allow reconstruction of past UV radiation (UVR) environments in lakes. We are now developing a new theoretical basis for paleoecology using numerical models of how fossil records are formed, and are developing methods to measure past changes in metals, hydrocarbons, and algal communities.

UVR Effects on Lakes – This work uses field experiments, surveys, and paleoecology to measure effects of UVR on clear lakes. Our research provided the first evidence that algal community response to UVR in lakes varies with habitat and taxon. Further, we found that photo-protective dissolved organic matter (DOM) independently stimulated algal growth, leading to landscape gradients in aquatic community structure. Our fossil analyses also demonstrated that lake production has varied by 10-25 fold due to changes in UVR exposure arising from variability in climate and DOM flux during the past 150,000 years. Finally, we have shown that UVR regulates both development of shallow littoral and offshore communities in many boreal lakes.

Human Effects on Lakes - Aquatic scientists at the University of Regina use fossil analyses and century-long environmental records to show that urbanization (sewage N) is a more important factor degrading water quality than is either climate change or land-use practices in western Canada. Our additional studies in Africa, Europe and USA confirm the importance of humans and suggest that technological change since 1930, not population growth, has amplified environmental degradation. We have also shown that fisheries management has disrupted nutrient and contaminant cycles in diverse unproductive lakes for up to 100 years.

Climate Effects on Lakes - Severe droughts displaced up to 20% of humans in central North America during the 1930s and caused agricultural losses of $50 billion in 1988-89. In response to this problem, we developed new 2000-yr paleoclimate records to estimate the risks of droughts on the Canadian Prairies. We find that the risk of drought is as high as 45% by 2030 AD, with expected losses up to $650 billion. These novel analyses are being used by Prairie crop insurance, agricultural and hydroelectric corporations to re-evaluate their susceptibility to climate change. We have also quantified past climate and its impacts on lakes in alpine, polar, subarctic, and prairie environments to understand how spatial variation in climate affects environmental health and society. These studies have lead to our new conceptual model of climate and human effects on lakes, the Energy-mass (Em) flux framework.

Lake Management - Loss of high quality surface waters may be the most significant challenge to the sustained social and economic health of developed nations. Here we have used whole-lake manipulations improve management of submerged vegetation and potentially-toxic algae in urban lakes. Similarly, our fossil techniques are being used to better manage First Nation's territories, coastal estuaries, northern freshwater deltas, and lakes in North America and Europe. These analyses help define the scope for water quality improvement, the degree and rate of environmental degradation, and the success of management initiatives.