Peter and Paul Lakes

The lakes and wetlands are home to amphibians such as green frogs and red-backed salamanders as well as reptiles such as common snapping turtles.

[4] Paul and Peter lakes have been used in multiple significant ecological studies due to their ideal experimental conditions.

One such experiment found that ecosystem collapses can be predicted by monitoring a lake's physical, biological, and chemical properties.

The researchers introduced large carnivorous fish to Peter lake, Paul was used as a control, to disrupt the ecosystem.

Collapses and significant shifts can be difficult to fix, so being able to predict when these changes are going to occur is crucial to preserving threatened ecosystems.

Golden shiners, fathead minnow, and other small fish that feed on zooplankton were added to Peter Lake.

The study found that bacteria use both autochthonous (from primary production of lake) and allochthonous (from terrestrial watershed) carbon.

[3] Another study examining the source of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) was performed on Peter and Paul lakes in 2007.

[7] In a twenty seven year experiment beginning in 1951, researchers removed the native fish and added rainbow trout to the lakes.

The type of Daphnia dominant in Peter shifted to a smaller species after the addition of hydrated lime.

The reason for the shift in Peter Lake occurred because of increased transparency, oxygen, and euphotic zone depth from the addition of hydrated lime.

Dissolved oxygen was measured in various intervals to test how effectively they estimated the mixed layer depth.

A study was conducted to determine if the diets of bass remained the same or if they changed to more optimally obtain nutrients that were more available without competition.