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MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS OF PARAMETERS RELATED TO LAKE ACIDIFICATION IN QUEBEC 1
Author(s) -
Bobee Bernard,
Lachance Marius
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
jawra journal of the american water resources association
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.957
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1752-1688
pISSN - 1093-474X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1752-1688.1984.tb02837.x
Subject(s) - environmental science , acid rain , wildlife , physical geography , precipitation , hydrology (agriculture) , christian ministry , factorial analysis , recreation , geography , ecology , geology , meteorology , philosophy , statistics , geotechnical engineering , theology , mathematics , biology
Physico‐chemical data from 234 lakes were collected during the spring and summer of 1980 by the Quebec Ministry of the Environment, the Quebec Ministry of Recreation, Hunting and Fishing and the Canadian Wildlife Service. A statistical method, based on the joint use of factorial correspondence analysis and cluster analysis, was applied to these data to obtain a general picture of the spatial variability of a number of physico‐chemical parameters related to the sensitivity or acidification of lakewaters. This method was first applied to the entire Quebec territory, and showed that the part of Quebec lying on the Canadian shield is especially vulnerable to acidification. The method also showed that the southwestern portion of this area of Quebec was more substantially affected by acid fallout. A detailed study of spatial variability over the shield area revealed the existence of greater spatial heterogeneity. More precisely, it was possible to pinpoint zones which are highly vulnerable to acid precipitation and zones whose lakes show clear signs of acidification resulting from such precipitation. These two statistical analyses led to a first general diagnosis on lake acidification in Quebec. They contributed to the rationalization of data acquisition in Quebec by delimitating zones where network density needs to be increased.