Lake landscape position: Relationships to hydrologic connectivity and landscape features

• DOI: 10.4319/lo.2006.51.2.0801
• Publication Date: 2010-07-01T18:00:12Z
• Authors: Sherry L. Martin; Patricia A. Soranno
• Keywords: CLARITY; Land Cover

To improve our understanding of lake landscape position, we compared four metrics based on different aspects surface hydrologic connections: (1) "lake hydrology," which is a general measure (2) order," measures connections to streams by stream order, (3) network number," other lakes, and (4) complexity," the complexity lakes (in chain or branched). We sampled 71 in northern Michigan, U.S.A. measured position characteristics around each (e.g., land use/cover geology) answer two questions: metric explains most variation water chemistry/clarity? what physical features are also related position? All explained significant some chemistry/clarity variables. However, consistently variation, ranging from 22% (dissolved organic carbon) 53% (conductivity calcium), with hydrology, both explaining similar amounts but less overall. Landscape was significantly morphometry proportion wetland types buffer areas, may help explain why chemistry clarity