Turkey Lakes Watershed Study (TLWS)

Location

47° 2' 60" N, 84° 25' 1.2" W
Brief Site Description: 
Watershed located in the Eastern Temperate Mixed Forest or Great-Lakes St. Lawrence forest region within the Boreal Shield Ecozone. A multidisciplinary whole-ecosystem investigative approach.
Detailed Site Description: 

The Turkey Lakes Watershed (TLW) study is a federal, interdepartmental study established in 1979 to investigate the effects of acid rain on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. The 10.5 km2 watershed, located in the Eastern Temperate Mixed Forest on the Canadian Shield, has been the site of multidisciplinary studies on biogeochemical and ecological processes conducted across plot to catchment scales. The whole-ecosystem investigative approach was adopted from the outset and has allowed research to evolve from its original (and continuing) acidification focus to include investigations on the effects of climate change, forest harvesting and other forest ecosystem perturbations. The extensive scientific and support infrastructure allows for collection of a comprehensive data record essential for understanding long-term environmental trends. Data include atmospheric deposition, meteorology, stream hydrology and chemistry, soil, pore and ground water properties, understory and overstory vegetation, lake and outflow physical and chemical properties, and aquatic macroinvertebrate and fish community composition and abundance. These data have contributed to over 400 published research papers and graduate theses. The watershed has also figured prominently in many continent-wide comparisons advancing fundamental watershed theory. The knowledge gained at TLW has influenced pollutant emission and natural resource management policies provincially, nationally and internationally.

 

TLW Home Page: https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/f2ac0ae9-dd2f-4a70-b059-f8a49d9f5982

Stream Flow: https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/383754a1-3a37-472c-a416-30868d209e96

Stream Chemistry: https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/81a47b60-f5d6-47fd-9861-20c3eb10c91e

Benthic Invertebrates and Stream Ecosystem Surveys: https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/576f1b52-3fce-497e-8e4c-0899acfdca1f

 

 

Field Site Type: 
Independent
Registration: 
Unregistered
Network(s): 
None
Study Start Date: 
1979 to 2022
Mean Annual Precipitation: 
1 203 millimeters / year
Average Annual Temperature: 
4°C
Land Cover: 
Mixed Forest
Geology: 
meta-igneous
Soil Order: 
Spodosol
Hydrology: Name: 
Turkey Lakes Watershed
Hydrology: Surface water stream order: 
First Order
Hydrology: Surface water - Stream Flow Performance: 
Perennial
Climate: 
Temperate
Group visibility: 
Public - accessible to all site users