NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: Gwich'in Settlement Area

Tags: physical sciences, fish habitat, permafrost thaw, thaw slump, benthic mactoinvertebrates

Objective(s): To investigate impacts of permafrost slumping on water quality, benthic macroinvertebrate communities, fish communities and ecosystem function by advancing research on previously studied thaw slumps within the Stony Creek Watershed.

Project Description: This licence has been issued for the scientific research application No.5324. The project with investigate impacts of permafrost slumping on water quality, benthic macroinvertebrate communities, fish communities and ecosystem function by advancing research on thaw slumps within the Stony Creek Watershed. The research team will directly collaborate with the Northwest Territories Geological Survey's NWT Permafrost Mapping Collective by making use of their extensive database of physico-chemical parameter information from long-term monitoring of thaw-slumps in the Peel Plateau. These explanatory variables will be used to explore the cumulative effects of ongoing permafrost disturbance on aquatic ecosystem health (i.e., biotic community structure, food-web dynamics, and ecological functioning) and associations between physical and instream biological condition. The team will develop predictive tools such as ecological effects thresholds and monitoring tools such as sensitive bioindicators that can be used to detect impacts of permafrost disturbance and aid in community-driven climate-change adaptation strategies and be used for management boards for permitting activities. The team will directly involve community stakeholders from local Renewable Resource Councils in data collection and dissemination. Provide information to local communities on the impacts of mega-slumps on aquatic ecosystem health, including food web impacts, if any. Provide training opportunities and educational workshops for individuals interested in environmental monitoring from within the communities. A total of 25 candidate streams will be considered, including 10 undisturbed (i.e., no retrogressive thaw slumps), 5 minimally disturbed (i.e., 1-2 slumps <5 ha), and 10 highly disturbed sites (i.e., numerous large thaw slumps), or a similar configuration based on a gradient of disturbance. Study sites will be considered based upon past sampling activity. The research team plan to use a scientifically robust approach (several approaches to be considered such as the Reference Condition Approach) to compare reference study sites to permafrost disturbance sites. Canadian Aquatic Biomonitoring Network (CABIN) monitoring techniques will be used to sample macroinvertebrates and water quality. This method uses a Kick net (metal wire D-frame, mesh size = 400 um) placed downstream of the collector and against stream substrate. The collector disturbs the substrate for a total of 3 minutes. 3-5 replicate Kick-nets will be collected at each stream. Samples are removed from the net and preserved in 95% ethanol for transport. The team will use complementary approaches to better understand permafrost disturbance and threats to the provision of ecosystem services. Water samples will be collected and processed in a laboratory. Habitat characteristics will be documented using CABIN techniques. Stable Isotope Analyses (SIA) will be used to investigate food-webs in streams impacted by permafrost disturbance. The team will consider the isotopic signatures (d13C and d15N) for (potentially) fish and macroinvertebrates. Multivariate analyses and modeling procedures will be used to investigate associations between physical parameters and the biological data produced from this study. All publications and presentations that result from this research will acknowledge Northwest Territories Cumulative Impact Monitoring Program (NWT CIMP) and, with permission, the community members and organizations involved in the project. Plain language presentations and summaries will be provided to Renewable Resources Committee’s (RRC’S) located in the study region, and nearby. RRCs involved in this project will be given access to all biological data collected during this research. The team will be building on past successful CIMP projects that resulted in scientific publications, presentations, development of monitoring guidelines, and novel datasets related to permafrost impacts on aquatic environments. The team will be teaming up with other Wilfred Laurier University researchers associated with Northern Water Futures to expand on objectives of existing research The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from July 6, 2022 to September 30, 2022