Present and past hydro-ecology of the Peace-Athabasca and Slave river deltas

Field- and laboratory-based research focuses on using elemental and stable isotope composition of lake sediments for reconstructing past hydrological and climatic change, evaluating the impact of human activities on watersheds, and documenting lake carbon and nitrogen cycling responses to past environmental change. Paleohydrological reconstructions are coupled with quantitative analysis of modern lake hydrology and their watersheds using water isotope tracers. Over the past several years, research has been carried out as part of team-based multidisciplinary national and international paleolimnological investigations in the circumpolar arctic and subarctic, subtropical Andes, temperate regions of North America, and in the Great Lakes of North America and East Africa.

Current research is centred on developing high-resolution, multi-centennial hydro-ecological histories in the Peace-Athabasca (PAD) and Slave River deltas (SRD) in northern Canada from multi-proxy analyses of lake sediment cores supported by comprehensive field-based studies of modern hydrology, limnology and aquatic ecology. The PAD and SRD have broad ecological and cultural significance and are ecosystems highly sensitive to prevailing climatic and hydrological conditions. Changing delta lake levels impact aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, wildlife habitat, and First Nations communities who have historical connections with the PAD and SRD and their resources.

Results will address pressing concerns related to the potential environmental impact of river regulation, resource development and climate variability on the PAD and SRD. Knowledge of present and past hydro-ecological variability is vital for effective industry-, government-, and community-based environmental stewardship of the PAD and SRD in light of multiple stressors that may affect these internationally recognized northern ecosystems.

State-of-the-art equipment and expert personnel at the UW-EIL play a central and vital role in my NSERC Northern Research Chair program, which relies heavily on isotope analyses of several hundred water and sediment samples per year. Recent awarding of Canada Foundation for Innovation and Ontario Innovation Trust grants included funding to acquire a continuous-flow gas-source isotope ratio mass spectrometer to support my research activities, which represents a significant addition to the UW-EIL and clearly points to its continued recognition as a world-renowned research and training facility.

Selected publications

• Wolfe BB, RI Hall, WM Last, TWD Edwards, MC English, TL Karst-Riddoch, A Paterson and R Palmini. 2005. Reconstruction of multi-century flood histories from oxbow lake sediments, Peace-Athabasca Delta, Canada. Hydrological Processes (special issue on Hydrologic Processes of the Northern Rivers Ecosystem Initiative) (in press).
• Wolfe BB, TL Karst-Riddoch, RI Hall, TWD Edwards, MC English, R Palmini, S McGowan, PR Leavitt and SR Vardy. 2005. Classification of hydrologic regimes of northern floodplain basins (Peace-Athabasca Delta, Canada) from analysis of stable isotopes (of δ¹⁸18O, δH) and water chemistry. Hydrological Processes (in press).
• Wolfe BB, TL Karst-Riddoch, SR Vardy, MD Falcone, RI Hall and TWD Edwards. 2005. Impacts of climate and river flooding on the hydro-ecology of a floodplain basin, Peace-Athabasca Delta, Canada: A.D. 1700-present. Quaternary Research 64: 147-162.
• Edwards TWD, BB Wolfe, JJ Gibson and D Hammarlund. 2004. “Use of water isotope tracers in high-latitude hydrology and paleohydrology.” In Long-Term Environmental Change in Arctic and Antarctic Lakes, Developments in Paleoenvironmental Research, Volume 7 (R Pienitz, M Douglas and JP Smol, eds.). Springer, Dordrecht, pp. 187-207.