Peter James Dillon

Trent University · Environmental and Resource Studies

Eutrophication and anoxia are unresolved issues in many large waterbodies. Globally, management success has been inconsistent, highlighting the need to identify approaches which reliably improve water quality. We used a process-based model chain to quantify effectiveness of terrestrial nutrient control measures on in-lake nitrogen, phosphorus, chlo...

Communities of benthic invertebrates from a series of intermittent headwater streams spanning over a short elevation gradient (i.e., ~ 180–500 m) were investigated in April–July 2010 and May–July 2011. The main purpose of this study was to better understand whether the potential future effect of environmental change on biological communities of the...

Uncertainty surrounding future climate makes it difficult to have confidence that current nutrient management strategies will remain effective. This study used monitoring and modelling to assess current effectiveness (% phosphorus reduction), and resilience (defined as continued effectiveness under a changing climate) of best management practices (...

The plausibility of land disturbance as a cause of declining phosphorus (P) concentrations in oligotrophic lakes within south-central Ontario, Canada, is evaluated using the process-based model INCA-P. The model was calibrated upon three catchments in the Muskoka-Haliburton region (MHR): Harp (HP), Dickie (DE), and Plastic (PC), which have varying...

For over a century, governments on both sides of the Canada–US border have employed diverse policy instruments and management tools to protect the Great Lakes. This crucial freshwater resource continues to show signs of degradation. We explore how the International Organization for Standardization Risk Management Standard (ISO 31000) can be used by...

Primary production by phytoplankton helps fuel hypolimnetic oxygen depletion as well as food web productivity , and is thought to have been affected by dreissenid mussel colonization in Lake Simcoe. Measured by short-term 14 C uptake, areal and volumetric rates of photosynthetic carbon uptake (production) were lower in nearshore (b 15 m) than offsh...

Primary production by phytoplankton helps fuel hypolimnetic oxygen depletion as well as food web productivity, and is thought to have been affected by dreissenid mussel colonization in Lake Simcoe. Measured by short-term 14C uptake, areal and volumetric rates of photosynthetic carbon uptake (production) were lower in nearshore (< 15 m) than offshor...

Photochemical transformation of dissolved organic matter (DOM) has been studied for more than two decades. Usually, laboratory or "in-situ" experiments are used to determine photodegradation variables. A common problem with these experiments is that the photodegradation experiments are done at higher than ambient temperature. Five laboratory experi...

Acidifying organic samples prior to stable isotope analysis is a common practice to eliminate inorganic carbonates; however, it is still unclear what impact this has on δ 13C and δ 15N values. Here we present the first extensive study to test the effects of acidification on freshwater macrophyte carbon and nitrogen isotopic ratios. Focusing on the...

Freshwater lakes in the Hudson Bay Lowlands (HBL) area of Ontario are expected to undergo considerable physical, chemical and biological changes related to climatic change; however, the nature of those changes is still very uncertain. As a first step to improve our understanding of fish communities within these subarctic lakes, we aimed to: (a) cha...

Urban sprawl and regional climate variability are major stresses on surface water resources in many places. The Lake Simcoe watershed (LSW) Ontario, Canada, is no exception. The LSW is predominantly agricultural but is experiencing rapid population growth due to its proximity to the greater Toronto area. This has led to extensive land use changes w...

Hydrological processes determine the transport of nutrients and passage of diffuse pollution. Consequently, catchments are likely to exhibit individual hydrochemical responses (sensitivities) to climate change, which are expected to alter the timing and amount of runoff, and to impact in-stream water quality. In developing robust catchment manageme...

While the factors linked to the incidence of cyanobacterial blooms are well studied, the specific conditions that facilitate transition of blooms to surface scums are less understood. Three Mile Lake (TML), a mesotrophic, softwater lake in south-central Ontario, Canada, experienced cyanobacterial blooms in 2005, 2006, and 2007, but a surface scum e...

Hydrological processes determine the transport of nutrients and passage of diffuse pollution. Consequently, catchments are likely to exhibit individual hydrochemical responses (sensitivities) to climate change, which is expected to alter the timing and amount of runoff, and to impact in-stream water quality. In developing robust catchment managemen...

Photochemical degradation of dissolved organic matter (DOM) plays an important role in the carbon cycle. Irradiation experiments were conducted to evaluate the influence of chemical factors, specifically those expected to be altered in natural waters by atmospheric acid deposition, on photodegradation of DOM. These included pH, nitrate, iron and ca...

Temporal patterns in specific runoff, dissolved organic carbon concentrations [DOC] and fluxes were examined during two periods: 1994–1997 (period 1) and 2007–2009 (period 2) in five adjacent tributary catchments of Lake Simcoe, the largest lake in southern Ontario, Canada. The catchments displayed similar patterns of land use change with increases...

Irradiation of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) of terrestrial origin that is freshly released to surface waters can produce particulate organic carbon (POC). Laboratory experiments with stream water were conducted to determine POC and particulate metals formation during exposure to artificial solar radiation comparable to surface intensity. The resu...

The fate of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in lakes and streams is significantly affected by photochemical transformation of DOM. A series of laboratory photochemical experiments was conducted to describe seasonal changes in photochemical properties of DOM. The stream samples used in this study originated from three different catchments in the sout...

In Lake Simcoe (Ontario, Canada), anthropogenic phosphorus (P) loads have contributed to increased algal growth, low hypolimnetic dissolved oxygen concentrations, and impaired fish reproduction. Management targets to control eutrophication require an ambitious programme to reduce P loads to the lake. Remediation strategies rely upon an improved und...

We report results from a spatially intensive monitoring and modelling study to assess phosphorus (P) dynamics in the Beaver River, a tributary of Lake Simcoe, Ontario. We established multiple monitoring stations (9 flow and 24 water quality stations) from headwaters to near the outflow that were operated for 2 field seasons, complementing longer te...

Lake Simcoe in Ontario, Canada, is a large lake surrounded by a mix of urban, agricultural, and less developed areas and is showing adverse effects from excess nutrient inputs, including low hypolimnetic oxygen concentrations. Knowledge of both the quantity and quality of nutrients and seston entering the lake is important because large reductions...

Bacteria serve an important function in aquatic environments and are associated with nutrient regeneration, carbon (C) metabolism, and secondary production. This is the first study to measure heterotrophic bacterial production, abundance, biomass, and biovolume in Lake Simcoe, Ontario. Excessive phosphorus loading resulting in low hypolimnetic oxyg...

There is a great deal of uncertainty associated with hydrological simulations and climate change projections. Here we evaluate the potential long-term impacts of climate change on local hydrology of rivers in the Lake Simcoe watershed (LSW), the largest inland lake in south central Ontario. The LSW is rapidly urbanizing, leading to changing rainfal...

The impacts of climate change on hydrology and water quality of the Black River, a tributary of Lake Simcoe, Canada, were assessed for the period 2001–2100, by integrating two models, HBV and INCA-P, and using statistically downscaled data from the Global Circulation Model CGCM3 for two IPCC scenarios (A1b and A2). The effectiveness of catchment ma...

The fate of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in lakes and streams is significantly affected by photochemical transformation of DOM. A series of laboratory photochemical experiments was conducted to describe long-term changes in photochemical properties of DOM. The stream samples used in this study originated from three different catchments on the sou...

Zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) are filter feeders located near the base of the foodweb and these animals are able to utilize a variety of carbon sources that may also vary seasonally. We conducted both a spatial and a temporal study in order to test the hypotheses: (1) dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations influence Hg accumulation in...

The invasion of dreissenid mussels to Lake Simcoe coincided with notable changes in the ecosystem, including a period of lower phytoplankton biovolume, particularly at shallower sites. Dreissenid grazing effects are typically most prominent during the summer season in the nearshore areas of lakes. Grazing effects in the winter are small because dre...

Agricultural runoff is an important source of phosphorus (P) to surface waters. This paper investigated the relationship between agricultural land use and the forms of P (i.e., total phosphorus [TP], total dissolved phosphorus [TDP], and soluble reactive phosphorus [SRP]) in streams draining 8 headwater subcatchments in the Beaver River subwatershe...

This paper presents a dynamic modelling framework for evaluating the impact of climate change and flow management options on a hydroelectric power reservoir. The model couples the HBV (Hydrologiska Byrans Vattenbalansavdelning) rainfall-runoff model to a generic reservoir routing model. The efficacy of the model was tested on the Steephill Falls hy...

A taxonomic diagnosis of chironomid larvae collected from Precambrian Shield headwater streams, Canada, is provided for 51 species. In addition, the Nearctic distribution is given for each species, including 17 new records, along with and information on their ecology and habitat.

A taxonomic diagnosis of chironomid larvae collected from Precambrian Shield headwater streams, Canada, is provided for 51 species. In addition, the Nearctic distribution is given for each species, including 17 new records, along with and information on their ecology and habitat.

Mercury (Hg) is a potent and persistent neurotoxin. It is subject to long-range atmospheric transport, accumulates in catchment soils, and can pose health risks to humans and animals both at the point of use as well as in remote locations. Elevated concentrations of methyl mercury (MeHg) in fish are related to atmospheric Hg deposition and have res...

We present a new, catchment-scale, process-based dynamic model for simulating mercury (Hg) in soils and surface waters. The Integrated Catchments Model for Mercury (INCA-Hg) simulates transport of gaseous, dissolved and solid Hg and transformations between elemental (Hg(0)), ionic (Hg(II)) and methyl (MeHg) Hg in natural and semi-natural landscapes...

1. Diel variation in metabolism contributes to variation in oxygen (O2) concentrations in streams. This variation in O2 and other parameters (e.g. pH) can in turn affect the rates of microbial nitrogen (N) processing, concentrations of nitrogenous solutes and production of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O). We investigated diel variability in...

The current Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) method for tabulating agricultural nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions suggests that aquatic ecosystems may be important N2O sources. However, estimates are highly uncertain, and the method to estimate emissions is rarely tested. The default IPCC emission factor for groundwater and surface drai...

We present an application of the Integrated Catchments model for Carbon (INCA-C) to simulate dissolved organic carbon (DOC) dynamics in two main tributaries of Lake Simcoe. This is the first application of the INCA-C model to a large watershed with mixed agricultural, urban and forest land use. Understanding DOC dynamics in the Lake Simcoe watershe...

Lake Simcoe is the largest lake within southern Ontario, Canada, and is an invaluable natural resource. However, in recent decades the ecological health of Lake Simcoe has been degraded by human activities, particularly those associated with agriculture and urbanization. In response, a number of management initiatives have been implemented to resto...

The Mann-Kendall test has been proposed as a nonparametric method to evaluate trends in long-term water quality datasets with missing values, serial correlation, and non-normality. However, this test has rarely been used to evaluate long-term trends in biological data. In this study, we used the Mann-Kendall test to evaluate trends in 15 years of d...

Yellow perch (Perca flavescens) undergo several ontogenetic dietary shifts, and consequently these fish feed at different trophic levels and rely on different carbon sources over their lifetime. Stable isotope ratios of nitrogen (δ(15)N) and carbon (δ(13)C) are powerful ecological tools that are used to provide a temporally integrated description o...

The overall goal of this study was to quantify the major and minor sources and losses of total phosphorus (TP) to the Lake of the Woods (LOW), summarized as a nutrient budget. This research was initiated in response to degradation in lake water quality, including elevated TP concentrations and increased cyanobacterial blooms, which has resulted in...

The sensitivity of surface waters to acidic deposition is governed by the interaction of catchment geology, soils, topography, land use, climate and atmospheric deposition. Accordingly at the landscape scale, catchment attributes may be used to predict lake chemistry (for example, acid neutralising capacity (ANC), pH, calcium (Ca2+) and dissolved o...

Nutrient enrichment has long been recognized as a major cause of impaired water quality. In southern Ontario, Canada, high rates of agricultural and urban nutrient loading, particularly phosphorus (P), have contributed to serious problems of surface water eutrophication and groundwater contamination. In Lake Simcoe, the second largest lake in south...

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a potent greenhouse gas produced during nitrogen cycling. Global nitrogen enrichment has resulted in increased atmospheric N2O concentrations due in large part to increased soil emissions. There is also a potentially important flux from streams, rivers and estuaries; although measurements of these emissions are sparse, and ro...

Using measured rates of bubble release and diffusive gas transport (also termed surface aeration), we address the role of these transport mechanisms in emissions of nitrous oxide and methane from four streams. While ebullition in streams and rivers has received little study, we found that ebullition was an important mode of methane emissions, contr...

This study presents a process-based model of dissolved organic carbon concentration ([DOC]) in catchments draining into Lake Simcoe, Ontario. INCA-C, the Integrated Catchment model for Carbon, incorporates carbon biogeochemical processes in a terrestrial system with hydrologic flow paths to simulate watershed wide [DOC]. The model successfully simu...

Animal body size is a driving force behind trophic interactions within biological communities, yet few studies have explored relationships between body size and trophic position (based on δ15N) at a broad-scale in freshwater lakes. Therefore, our goals were to (1) determine whether body size is a good predictor of trophic position for multiple pela...

Global models have indicated agriculturally impacted rivers and streams may be important sources of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N(2)O). However, there is significant uncertainty in N(2)O budgets. Isotopic characterization can be used to help constrain N(2)O budgets. We present the first published measurements of the isotopic character of N(2)...

Bacteria and phytoplankton are integral in the mobilization and transfer of organic matter to higher trophic levels. Hence, we examined their role in zooplankton diets and assessed trends in their nitrogen isotopic variability. We performed feeding experiments with natural particulate organic matter (POM) and four zooplankton groups (Daphnia, Holop...

Winter oxygen consumption was measured in 16 Ontario lakes. Whole lake respiration ranged from 0.08 to 0.39 g O2 m−2 day−1 and was positively correlated with mean depth, phosphorus m−2 at spring overturn, and summer chlorophyll a m−2. Morphological variables plus Secchi depth were explained over 80% of the variability in respiration rates.

The total phosphorus budgets for a number of lakes in the Haliburton–Kawartha region of southern Ontario were measured over a 20-mo period. These data, combined with the lakes' morphometry and water budgets, were used to test a simple nutrient budget model similar to that proposed by Vollenweider (1969) purporting to predict the total phosphorus co...

A general technique is presented for calculating the capacity of a lake for development based on quantifiable relationships between nutrient inputs and water quality parameters reflecting lake trophic status. Use of the technique for southern Ontario lakes is described. From the land use and geological formations prevalent in a lake’s drainage basi...

Precipitation in south-central Ontario, with mean pH between 3.95 and 4.38 and frequent event pH's of < 4.0, is more acidic than that in the Sudbury, Ontario, region and in Scandinavia, and as acidic as that in the northeastern USA. As in New England, a major component of the total acidity is strong mineral acid. Because most lakes in south-central...

The snow pack that accumulated in central Ontario in the winter of 1977–78 had a pH of 4.0–4.5. The resultant runoff in the following spring in three intensively studied watersheds was characterized by a 2–13-fold increase in H+ content. Between 36 and 77% of the year's export of H+ from the watersheds occurred in April. Similar pH depressions were...

An assay has been developed to measure extracellular hydroxyl radical (OH*) activity in algal culture media and natural waters over a 4- to 5-day period. The first-order rate constant, k, for loss of absorbance at 590 or 620 nm was determined for erioglaucine, which is sensitive to OH*, insensitive to superoxide and hydrogen peroxide, and stable in...

The potential impact of harvesting on lake chemistry was assessed for ~1300 lakes in south-central Ontario using a critical loads approach based on the steady-state water chemistry (SSWC) model. The critical load of acidity is currently only exceeded by bulk sulphate deposition in 9% of the lakes if harvesting does not occur. However, the percentag...

Photodegradation of dissolved organic matter (DOM) from stream waters was investigated using dissolved organic carbon (DOC) analysis, ultraviolet-visible absorbance, three-dimensional excitational emission matrix fluorescence, and high-performance size exclusion chromatography. The effects of altering pH and various iron concentrations on DOM chara...

We developed a diatom-based index that integrates the effects of multiple stresses on streams and provides information related to the "distance" from the nonimpacted state. The Eastern Canadian Diatom Index (IDEC) was based on a correspondence analysis (CA) to develop a chemistry-free index where the position of the sites along the gradient of maxi...

With climate change, droughts may become more frequent in southern Ontario, which could release metals from peat and degrade downstream water quality. Monthly volume-weighted metal (Al, Ba, Be, Cd, Co, Mn, Ni, Pb, Sr, and Zn) concentrations and fluxes in streams and bulk deposition at Plastic Lake were monitored over 20 months in 2002–2003, during...

We analyzed for trends of acidification related variables from 1983 to 1992 in precipitation concentrations and deposition at six sites and surface water concentrations at 111 sites located from central Ontario to eastern Newfoundland. Precipitation showed significantly decreasing H+ and concentrations and deposition in central and eastern Ontario...

Relative contributions of changes in base cations and acid anions to alkalinity decreases during spring snowmelt in 1984–86 were analyzed for 15 headwater streams and lake outflows in three central Ontario catchments. During episodes, concentration changes in ions which contributed to alkalinity decreases were partially offset by smaller changes in...

After neutralization of Bowland Lake, a clear oligotrophic acidified lake, with CaCO3 in August 1983, the whole-lake pH and alkalinity increased from 4.9 and −6 μeq∙L−1 to 6.7 and 89 μeq∙L−1, respectively. Total whole-lake Al decreased gradually from 130 to 30 μg∙L−1, Mn decreased from 80 to 28 μg∙L−1 and the lake became less transparent as dissolv...

Sediment traps were used to estimate the downward flux of total phosphorus, total Kjeldahl nitrogen, and iron in a small Precambrian shield lake for 4 yr. The flux as determined by the sediment trap method was much higher than the retention of the same elements as measured by mass balance methods (input–outflow). Total phosphorus (TP) sedimentation...

The response of mean ice-free chlorophyll a in 15 stratified, P-limited oligotrophic and mesotrophic lakes in central Ontario to changes in mean epilimnetic total phosphorus (TPepi) within a lake was highly variable between years during the period 1976–87. The linear regression coefficient of determination, R2, using all annual means was only 0.36,...