Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Using visible near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (VNIRS) of lake sediments to estimate historical changes in cyanobacterial production: potential and challenges

  • Original paper
  • Published:
Journal of Paleolimnology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Cyanobacterial blooms are increasing worldwide and have negative impacts on aquatic ecosystems and the services they provide to human societies. A lack of long-term environmental monitoring data, however, has prevented the development of a baseline perspective against which drivers of the increasing frequency and severity of cyanobacterial blooms can be identified. In this study, we evaluate application of spectroscopy-based models to infer historical trends in cyanobacterial abundance from lake sediment cores. Using an amendment series (n = 15) of a sediment matrix spiked with increasing amounts of mixed cyanobacterial culture from 0 to 50 parts per thousand (‰), taxonomically diagnostic carotenoids were measured using visible near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (VNIRS) and conventional but more costly and time-consuming high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). A partial least squares regression model was developed to correlate amendment series VNIR spectra to ‰ of added cyanobacteria. Despite challenges in differentiating carotenoid pigments because of overlapping absorption peaks, applications of the resulting 2-component model (r2 = 0.93, RMSEP = 0.23‰) to sediment cores from four Ontario lakes yielded temporal trends that were significantly correlated with downcore HPLC measures of cyanobacterial pigments in three out of four cases. Although our method is simplistic and may be improved in the future with more complex algorithms employing derivative analysis, we present our results as a possible stepping-stone towards spectral reconstruction of cyanobacterial production. Our study provides proof-of-concept that refinement of a method applying VNIRS to detect cyanobacterial carotenoids in lake sediments has the potential to be an important, rapid and non-destructive assessment tool for research and management of cyanobacterial blooms.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Butz C, Grosjean M, Poraj-Górska A, Enters D, Tylmann W (2016) Sedimentary bacteriophyophytin a as an indicator of meromixis in varved lake sediments of Lake Jaczno, north-east Poland, CE 1891–2010. Glob Planet Change 144:109–118

    Google Scholar 

  • Das B, Vinebrooke RD, Sanchez-Azofeifa A, Rivard B, Wolfe AP (2005) Inferring sedimentary chlorophyll concentrations with reflectance spectroscopy: a novel approach to reconstructing historical changes in the trophic status of mountain lakes. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 62:10671078

    Google Scholar 

  • Favot EJ, Rühland KM, DeSellas AM, Ingram R, Paterson AM, Smol JP (2019) Climate variability promotes unprecedented cyanobacterial blooms in a remote, oligotrophic Ontario lake: evidence from paleolimnology. J Paleolimnol 62:31–52

    Google Scholar 

  • Fay P (1983) The blue-greens: (cyanophyta-cyanobacteria), vol 160. Institute of Biology’s Studies in Biology, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Glew JR (1989) A new trigger mechanism for sediment samplers. J Paleolimnol 2:241–243

    Google Scholar 

  • Graham JL, Loftin KA, Kamman N (2009) Monitoring recreational freshwaters. North American Lake Management Society, LakeLine Summer 8–24

  • Guillard RRL (1975) Culture of phytoplankton for feeding marine invertebrates. In: Smith WL, Chanley MH (eds) Culture of marine invertebrate animals. Plenum Press, New York, pp 26–60

    Google Scholar 

  • Halvorson RA, Leng W, Vikesland PJ (2011) Differentiation of microcystin, nodularin, and their component amino acids by drop-coating deposition Raman spectroscopy. Anal Chem 83:9273–9280

    Google Scholar 

  • Heilbron IM (1942) Some aspects of algal chemistry. Nature 149:398–400

    Google Scholar 

  • Huisman J, Codd GA, Paerl HW, Ibelings BW, Verspagen JMH, Visser PM (2018) Cyanobacterial blooms. Nat Rev Microbiol 16:471–483

    Google Scholar 

  • Jeffrey SW, Mantoura RFC, Wright SW (2005) Phytoplankton pigments in oceanography. UNESCO, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Karmakar M, Leavitt PR, Cumming BF (2015) Enhanced algal abundance in northwest Ontario (Canada) lakes during the warmer early-to mid-Holocene period. Quat Sci Rev 123:168–179

    Google Scholar 

  • Koreivienė J, Anne O, Kasperovičienė J, Burškytė V (2014) Cyanotoxin management and human health risk mitigation in recreational waters. Environ Monit Assess 186:4443–4459

    Google Scholar 

  • Korsman T, Dåbakk E, Nilsson MB (2001) Near-infrared spectrometry (NIRS) in palaeolimnology. In: Last WM, Smol JP (eds) Tracking environmental change using lake sediments. Volume 2: Physical and geochemical methods. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht

    Google Scholar 

  • Kotai J (1972) Instructions for preparation of modified nutrient solution Z8 for algae. Norwegian Institute for Water Research, Blindern, Oslo 11/69

  • Leavitt PR, Hodgson DA (2001) Sedimentary pigments. In: Smol JP, Birks HJB, Last WM (eds) Tracking environmental change using lake sediments. Volume 3: Terrestrial, algal, and siliceous indicators. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht

    Google Scholar 

  • Malley DF, Williams PC (1997) Use of near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy in prediction of heavy metals in freshwater sediment by their association with organic matter. Environ Sci Technol 31:3461–3467

    Google Scholar 

  • Malley DF, Lockhart L, Wilkinson P, Hauser B (2000) Determination of carbon, carbonate, nitrogen, and phosphorus in freshwater sediments by near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy; rapid analysis and a check on conventional analytical methods. J Paleolimnol 24:415–425

    Google Scholar 

  • McGowan S, Britton G (1999) Ancient blue-green blooms. Limnol Oceanogr 44:436–439

    Google Scholar 

  • Mevik BH, Wehrens R, Liland KH, Hiemstra P (2013) pls: partial least squares and principal component regression. R package version (2.4-3). https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=pls

  • Meyer-Jacob C, Michelutti N, Paterson AM, Monteith D, Yang H, Weckström J, Smol JP, Bindler R (2017) Inferring past trends in lake water organic carbon concentrations in northern lakes using sediment spectroscopy. Environ Sci Technol 51:13248–13255

    Google Scholar 

  • Meyer-Jacob C, Michelutti N, Paterson AM, Cumming BF, Smol JP (2019) The browning and re-browning of lakes: divergent lake-water organic carbon trends linked to acid deposition and climate change. Sci Rep 9:16676

    Google Scholar 

  • Michelutti N, Smol JP (2016) Visible spectroscopy reliably tracks trends in paleo-production. J Paleolimnol 56:253–265

    Google Scholar 

  • Michelutti N, Blais JM, Cumming BF, Paterson AM, Rühland K, Wolfe AP, Smol JP (2010) Do spectrally inferred determinations of chlorophyll a reflect trends in lake trophic status? J Paleolimnol 43:205–217

    Google Scholar 

  • Moir KE, Hickey MBC, Leavitt PR, Ridal JJ, Cumming BF (2018) Paleolimnological proxies reveal continued eutrophication issues in the St. Lawrence River Area of Concern. J Gt Lakes Res 44:357–366

    Google Scholar 

  • Morton RA (1975) Biochemical spectroscopy. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Nicholls S, Crompton J (2018) A comprehensive review of the evidence of the impact of surface water quality on property values. Sustainability 10:500

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Neil JM, Davis TW, Burford MA, Gobler CJ (2012) The rise of harmful cyanobacterial blooms: the potential roles of eutrophication and climate change. Harmful Algae 14:313–334

    Google Scholar 

  • Paterson AM, Winter JG, Nicholls KH, Clark BJ, Ramcharan CW, Yan ND, Somers KM (2008) Long-term changes in phytoplankton composition in seven Canadian Shield lakes in response to multiple anthropogenic stressors. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 65:846–861

    Google Scholar 

  • Pick FR (2016) Blooming algae: a Canadian perspective on the rise of toxic cyanobacteria. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 73:1149–1158

    Google Scholar 

  • R Core Team (2018) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. http://www.R-project.org/

  • Rinnan A, van den Berg F, Engelsen SB (2009) Review of the most common pre-processing techniques for near-infrared spectra. Trends Anal Chem 28:1201–1222

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosén P (2005) Total organic carbon (TOC) of lake water during the Holocene inferred from lake sediments and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) in eight lakes from northern Sweden. Biogeochemistry 76:503–516

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosén P, Dåbakk E, Renberg I, Nilsson M, Hall R (2000) Near-infrared spectrometry (NIRS): a new tool for inferring past climatic changes from lake sediments. Holocene 10:161–166

    Google Scholar 

  • Rouillard A, Rosén P, Douglas MSV, Pienitz R, Smol JP (2011) A model for inferring dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in lakewater from visible-near-infrared spectroscopy (VNIRS) measures in lake sediment. J Paleolimnol 46:187–202

    Google Scholar 

  • Schindler DW, Hecky RE, Findlay DL, Stainton MP, Parker BR, Paterson MJ, Beaty KG, Lyng M, Kasian SEM (2008) Eutrophication of lakes cannot be controlled by reducing nitrogen input: results of a 37-year whole-ecosystem experiment. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 32:11254–11258

    Google Scholar 

  • Smol JP (2008) Pollution of lakes and rivers: a paleoenvironmental perspective, 2nd edn. Wiley, Oxford, p 383

    Google Scholar 

  • Staub R (1961) Ernährungsphysiologisch-autökologische Untersuchungen an Oscillatoria rubescens D.C. Schweiz Z Hydrol 23:82–198

    Google Scholar 

  • Takaichi S (2011) Carotenoids in algae: distributions, biosynthesis and functions. Mar Drugs 9:1101–1118

    Google Scholar 

  • Taranu ZE, Gregory-Eaves I, Leavitt PR, Bunting L, Buchaca T, Catalan J, Domaizon I, Guilizzoni P, Lami A, McGowan S, Moorhouse H, Morabito G, Pick FR, Stevenson MR, Thompson PL, Vinebrooke RD (2015) Acceleration of cyanobacterial dominance in north temperate-subarctic lakes during the Anthropocene. Ecol Lett 18:375–384

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor TK, Keel K, Ladsberg JH, Miller M, Backer LC (2013) Canine cyanotoxin poisonings in the United States (1920s–2012): review of suspected and confirmed cases from three data sources. Toxins 5:1597–1628

    Google Scholar 

  • Thrane JE, Kyle M, Striebel M, Haande S, Grung M, Rohrlack T, Anderson T (2015) Spectrophotometric analysis of pigments: a critical assessment of a high-throughput method for analysis of algal pigment mixtures by spectral deconvolution. PLoS ONE 10:e0137645

    Google Scholar 

  • Vinebrooke RD, Hall RI, Leavitt PR, Cumming BF (1998) Fossil pigments as indicators of phototrophic response to salinity and climatic change in lakes of western Canada. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 55:668–681

    Google Scholar 

  • Waters MN, Schelske CL, Kenney WF, Chapman AD (2005) The use of sedimentary algal pigments to infer historic algal communities in Lake Apopka, Florida. J Paleolimnol 33:53–71

    Google Scholar 

  • Winter JG, DeSellas AM, Fletcher R, Heintsch L, Morley L, Nakamoto L, Utsumi K (2011) Algal blooms in Ontario, Canada: increases in reports since 1994. Lake Reservoir Manag 27:107–114

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolfe AP, Vinebrooke RD, Michelutti N, Rivard B, Das B (2006) Experimental calibration of lake-sediment spectral reflectance to chlorophyll a concentrations: methodology and paleolimnological validation. J Paleolimnol 36:91–100

    Google Scholar 

  • Wood SN (2011) Fast stable restricted maximum likelihood and marginal likelihood estimation of semiparametric generalized linear models. J R Stat Soc B 73:3–36

    Google Scholar 

  • Wood SN (2017) Generalized additive models: an introduction with R, 2nd edn. Chapman and Hall/CRC, Boca Raton

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge Carsten Meyer-Jacob for helpful insights regarding early versions of this manuscript and on spectral detection of sediment properties, in general. We also thank Moumita Karmakar, Katherine Moir, Brian Cumming, and Peter Leavitt for providing downcore HPLC pigment data. Four anonymous reviewers provided critiques that greatly improved this manuscript. Financial support was provided by an NSERC CREATE ABATE grant awarded to J.P.S., an NSERC Discovery Grant to A.M.P., and an NSERC Industrial Research and Development (Postdoctoral) Fellowship to K.R.H.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Elizabeth J. Favot and Kristopher R. Hadley contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Paleoecological Environmental Assessment and Research Lab (PEARL), Department of Biology, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, K7L 3N6, Canada

    Elizabeth J. Favot, Neal Michelutti & John P. Smol

  2. Hutchinson Environmental Sciences Ltd., 501 Krug St., Kitchener, ON, N2B 1L3, Canada

    Kristopher R. Hadley

  3. Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, Dorset Environmental Science Centre, 1026 Bellwood Acres Road, P.O. Box 39, Dorset, ON, P0A 1E0, Canada

    Andrew M. Paterson

  4. Environment and Climate Change Canada, Canada Centre for Inland Waters, 867 Lakeshore Rd., Burlington, ON, L7S 1A1, Canada

    Susan B. Watson & Arthur Zastepa

  5. Hutchinson Environmental Sciences Ltd., 1-5 Chancery Lane, Bracebridge, ON, P1L 2E3, Canada

    Neil J. Hutchinson

  6. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2E9, Canada

    Rolf D. Vinebrooke

Authors
  1. Elizabeth J. Favot
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Kristopher R. Hadley
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Andrew M. Paterson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Neal Michelutti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Susan B. Watson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Arthur Zastepa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Neil J. Hutchinson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Rolf D. Vinebrooke
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. John P. Smol
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Elizabeth J. Favot.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Favot, E.J., Hadley, K.R., Paterson, A.M. et al. Using visible near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (VNIRS) of lake sediments to estimate historical changes in cyanobacterial production: potential and challenges. J Paleolimnol 64, 335–345 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-020-00140-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-020-00140-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation