Turkey Lakes watershed: scientific activities

Intensive monitoring of meteorology, atmospheric deposition, hydrology and water  chemistry within the TLW has permitted determination of water, ion, and nutrient budgets for both its terrestrial and aquatic components. The data permit detection of ecosystem trends and inference of cause. The health and status of both the terrestrial and aquatic biological communities (species distributions, production, standing stocks, etc.) have been determined also. Specific hydrological research questions such as the definition of water pathways during snowmelt have been considered. Hydrological, chemical and biological models have been developed and validated using TLW data and these have been used to simulate watershed responses at other locations. The basin has also acted as a base for related regional studies (e.g. water chemistry surveys, water bird population and distribution studies), and research is now branching to include evaluation of the effects of other airborne pollutants (e.g. metals and toxic organic contaminants), other system-level perturbations (e.g. UV-b and climate change), and specific landscape manipulations (e.g. forest harvesting and aquatic habitat alteration). More detailed information is provided in the Projects section.