The effect of cottage development on aquatic macroinvertebrate communities and water quality in central Ontario lakes

Abstract

In Canada, over 3 million freshwater lakes provide a wide range of ecological, financial, aesthetic, and public health services for their citizens, communities, and tourists. This is especially true for regions like south-central Ontario, commonly referred to as ‘cottage country’, that depend on these ecosystems directly for activity, business, and tourism. However, with property ownership growing in the area, as well as tourism, the region is experiencing more human development and subsequent activities associated with it. Forms of these developmental activities include land clearing for cottage or roadway development at the shore or surrounding watershed, installation of wells and septic systems, riparian zone alteration for aesthetic or recreation purposes, and increases in foreign materials that are a by-product of this human activity (like increased fertilizer use on farmland and gardens, oil or gasoline contamination and contaminants originating from the cottages themselves). In this study, we aim to gather baseline data on local macroinvertebrate communities and the physicochemical properties of water in interior lakes in the Muskoka region of central Ontario, and to compare developed and isolated lakes to assess the impact of cottage development. Using an RDA analysis, I found that, among the water variables assessed, conductivity, pH and dissolved oxygen concentration had a significant effect on the composition of benthic macroinvertebrate communities. [...]