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- Adrian, Rita, et al.
(author)
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Lakes as sentinels of climate change
- 2009
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In: Limnology and Oceanography. - : Wiley. - 0024-3590 .- 1939-5590. ; 54:6(2), s. 2283-2297
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- While there is a general sense that lakes can act as sentinels of climate change, their efficacy has not been thoroughly analyzed. We identified the key response variables within a lake that act as indicators of the effects of climate change on both the lake and the catchment. These variables reflect a wide range of physical, chemical, and biological responses to climate. However, the efficacy of the different indicators is affected by regional response to climate change, characteristics of the catchment, and lake mixing regimes. Thus, particular indicators or combinations of indicators are more effective for different lake types and geographic regions. The extraction of climate signals can be further complicated by the influence of other environmental changes, such as eutrophication or acidification, and the equivalent reverse phenomena, in addition to other land-use influences. In many cases, however, confounding factors can be addressed through analytical tools such as detrending or filtering. Lakes are effective sentinels for climate change because they are sensitive to climate, respond rapidly to change, and integrate information about changes in the catchment.
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2. |
- Blenckner, Thorsten, et al.
(author)
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Large-scale climatic signatures in lakes across Europe : A meta-analysis
- 2007
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In: Global Change Biology. - : Wiley. - 1354-1013 .- 1365-2486. ; 13:7, s. 1314-1326
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Recent studies have highlighted the impact of the winter North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) on water temperature, ice conditions, and spring plankton phenology in specific lakes and regions in Europe. Here, we use meta-analysis techniques to test whether 18 lakes in northern, western, and central Europe respond coherently to winter climate forcing, and to assess the persistence of the winter climate signal in physical, chemical, and biological variables during the year. A meta-analysis approach was chosen because we wished to emphasize the overall coherence pattern rather than individual lake responses. A particular strength of our approach is that time-series from each of the 18 lakes were subjected to the same robust statistical analysis covering the same 23-year period. Although the strongest overall coherence in response to the winter NAO was exhibited by lake water temperatures, a strong, coherent response was also exhibited by concentrations of soluble reactive phosphorus and soluble reactive silicate, most likely as a result of the coherent response exhibited by the spring phytoplankton bloom. Lake nitrate concentrations showed significant coherence in winter. With the exception of the cyanobacterial biomass in summer, phytoplankton biomass in all seasons was unrelated to the winter NAO. A strong coherence in the abundance of daphnids during spring can most likely be attributed to coherence in daphnid phenology. A strong coherence in the summer abundance of the cyclopoid copepods may have been related to a coherent change in their emergence from resting stages. We discuss the complex nature of the potential mechanisms that drive the observed changes.
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3. |
- Weyhenmeyer, Gesa A., et al.
(author)
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Nitrate-depleted conditions on the increase in shallow northern European lakes
- 2007
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In: Limnology and Oceanography. - 0024-3590 .- 1939-5590. ; 52:4, s. 1346-1353
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We determined relative nitrate-nitrogen (NO3- N) loss rates in 100 north-mid-European lakes from late spring to summer by using the exponential function N-2 5 N-1e(-k)( (t)(2) - (t)(2)), where N-1 and N-2 are NO3- N concentrations at the beginning (t(1)) and the end (t(2)) of the time interval, respectively, and k is the specific NO3- N loss rate. We found that k decreased with increasing lake depth. Adjusting k to the lake depth (k(adj)), we observed that k(adj) was positively related to spring NO3-N concentrations, but this relationship became insignificant at mean lake depths exceeding 12.5 m. A relationship between k(adj) and spring NO3- N concentrations in lakes shallower than 12.5 m implies that changes in spring NO3-N concentrations influence the NO3- N loss rate and thereby summer NO3- N concentrations. Time series from one Estonian, one German, and 14 Swedish lakes shallower than 12.5 m since 1988 revealed that May to August NO3-N concentrations have decreased over time everywhere, and the number of time periods exhibiting a NO3-N depleted condition, i.e., NO3-N levels below 10 mu g L-1, in these lakes has tripled since 1988. We explained the decreasing NO3-N concentrations by a reduction in external nitrogen loading including atmospheric deposition, and by changes in climate. The observed prolongation of NO3- N depleted conditions might be one possible explanation for the increasing occurrence of nitrogen- fixing cyanobacteria in a variety of lake ecosystems.
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