Methods

Snow depth was determined by averaging ten random samples taken with a meter stick.<br/>

Methods

Phytoplankton samples were obtained from the epilimnion and hypolimnion by
slowly lowering weighted Tygon tubing through the water column to a depth of 7 m, such
that the tubing was filled with a representative water column sample. Based on the inner
diameter of the tubing, 205 mL of water was pumped from the tubing for the epilimnion
sample. Next, 267 mL of water was pumped from the tubing for the hypolimnion sample. Each
sample was collected into a 250 mL amber bottle that contained 2 mL of Lugol’s solution.
Phytoplankton samples were pooled by sampling date and sent to Phycotech Inc. (St. Joseph
MI, USA) for phytoplankton identification, and concentration and biovolume
quantification.<br/>

Methods

Our study lake, South Sparkling Bog (SSB) (46.003°N, 89.705°W), is a bog lake
located in Vilas County in Northern Wisconsin. South Sparkling Bog is a dystrophic,
dimictic lake with a maximum depth of 8 m, a mean depth of 3.6 m, and a surface area of
0.44 ha. South Sparkling Bog is surrounded by a sphagnum bog mat and has no shoreline
development. During the winters of 2019-2020 and 2020-2021, snow was removed from the
surface of South Sparkling Bog following any snow accumulation event. Removal was
conducted via a snowplow attached to the front of an ARGO all-terrain vehicle and a
snowblower. The winter of 2018-2019 served as a reference year, and snow was not removed
from South Sparkling Bog’s surface. While ice cover persisted, plankton samples were
collected at the deep spot for each lake during on a biweekly-to-monthly basis each
winter. On each sampling date, one integrated zooplankton tow was taken at a depth of 0-7
m using a 56 µm mesh Wisconsin net. All zooplankton samples were collected into glass
sample jars, preserved in 90% ethanol, and saved for laboratory analysis. In the lab,
zooplankton samples were filtered through 53 µm mesh and diluted to a known volume, and
three sub-sample replicates were taken using a 1 mL Hensen-Stempel pipette. Sub-sample
replicates were counted to at least 100 individuals, otherwise the entire sample was
quantified. Sub-sample data was then converted to the known diluted volume and finally
converted to total filtered volume (from the integrated tow sample) to estimate density
(individuals L-1). Zooplankton samples were processed using a Leica M8Z dissecting scope
and Leica imaging software. Replicate subsamples were averaged to estimate total abundance
and density, and average lengths (mm) for each sample taxa were calculated from measures
of the first 30 taxa found within a sample date.<br/>