Lycoming College Limnological Evaluation of Indian Park Pond Montoursville 2014, Lycoming County Samuel E. Wanner & Peter W. Gnocchi Project Supervisor: Dr. Mel Zimmerman Project Overview: According to the Lake Assessment Protocol of the PADEP, the main concerns with water quality associated with Pennsylvania lakes deal with eutrophication, mainly cultural eutrophication. Eutrophication is a natural lake aging process involving the accumulation of sediments and nutrients over time resulting in a productivity increase and a gradual accumulation of organic matter and sediment from nearby watersheds. The succession of a lake evolves through stages, these stages from coldest and least sediment and nutrients to most are oligotrophic, mesotrophic, eutrophic, and hypereutrophic. Although lakes naturally progress through the trophic states gradually in a slow process of succession that can take thousands of years, severe anthropogenic influences can accelerate the progression to decades and is known as cultural eutrophication. This can result in an increase of nutrients causing algal growth and macrophyte (aquatic flora) growth. The increase in plant respiration, photosynthesis, and organic decay consequently causes fluctuation in dissolved oxygen (DO), pH, and biological oxygen demand (BOD). Many lakes in Pennsylvania are continuously progressing through the lake succession so studies are continuously being done. The pond located in Indian Park in Montoursville Pennsylvania has never had an assessment done. From August to November of 2014 students from Lycoming College’s Clean Water Institute conducted testing to assess the ponds trophic state and analyze the health of the pond. The study evaluated the pond in the following areas: biodiversity, trophic state, water chemistry, zooplankton, and a complete underwater mapping of the pond. Large Mouth Bass Collected by Seine (27 cm) Bryzoans – A colonial filter feeding animal that secretes a “jelly” like substance Juvenile Green Sunfish & Bluegill Using a Seine to collect fish The Main Pond in the summer full of Fragrant Water-Lily Dominant Rotifer species found. Keratella (Left) Trichocera (Right) Waterfowl on the south-side of the pond waiting for food from people Damselfly Larvae Map and Satellite image of the study site. Conclusion: The Indian Park Pond is a stratified hypereutrophic pond that has high levels of organic nutrients and a low biodiversity of fish. Its deepest parts are 4 meters (12ft) in depth. It has a neutral pH and a high level of coliforms. There appears to be no consistent inflow or outflow, which may result in low dissolved oxygen in the future. Section of the ponds have narrow riparian buffer zonation. There are high levels of pollution tolerant macroinvertebrates and high abundance of macrophytes. The large amount of macrophytes suggests that this ponds may be transitioning towards a wetland especially in the shallow areas of both ponds. Figure 1: August September Temperature Oxygen Demand is a graph that shows the relationship between dissolved oxygen (DO) and the temperature (C°) and compares each at their designated depth. (Correlates with the data from Table 1) Figure 2 : The October Temperature Oxygen Demand is a graph that shows the relationship between dissolved oxygen (DO) and the temperature (C°) and compares each at their designated depth. (Correlates with the data from Table 2) History of Indian Park Ponds: Although no exact date for the construction of the pond could be found, the earliest references of a pond in Indian Park dates back to a map from This shows the pond connected to East Mill Creek and flowing to the Loyalsock Creek. Sometime after the sand pit, a flood allowed Mill creek to flow into the pond and outflow into the Loyalsock Creek. In 1975 the widening of US route 220 diverted Mill Creek from entering the pond which also caused the outflow of the pond to cease. In 1984 the borough of Montoursville started the Indian Park 22 Acre Project to create a useable park. To help create this park the Williamsport Area Community College (now Pennsylvania College of Technology)helped to excavate 100,000 cubic yards of soil from the pond to use for leveling around the park. This gave the pond its current shape. There is still a remnant of where Mill Creek once entered in the pond but besides that, the morphology of the pond has changed due to weather and flooding and deposition of leaves and other detritus. Figure 3Equations Secchi DiskTSI(SD) = ln(SD) Chlorophyll-αTSI(CHL) = 9.81 ln(CHL) Total Phosphorous TSI(TP) = ln(TP) Secchi DiskTSI(SD) = 86.1 Chlorophyll-αTSI(CHL) = 48.6 Total Phosphorous TSI(TP) = 80.3 AverageTSI = 71.6 Results: Figures 1 & 2 show stratification in the pond in the summer and turnover in the fall. Turnover is important because the mixing of the water column brings nutrients up in the water column and dissolved oxygen down to the bottom. Generally turnover occurs twice at this latitude, in the spring and fall – having two turnovers a year makes a body of water dimictic. Shallow ponds like this one can also exhibit multiple turnovers ( polymictic) due to wind storms. In Figure 3 Trophic State Index calculations indicate that the pond is hypereutrophic. The phosphorus and Secchi disk results indicate hypereuthrophy. The Chlorophyll-α results suggest the pond is mesotrophic. Averaging the results shows the pond is hyper eutrophic.