0000000000434897
AUTHOR
Donald C. Pierson
A European Multi Lake Survey dataset of environmental variables, phytoplankton pigments and cyanotoxins
Under ongoing climate change and increasing anthropogenic activity, which continuously challenge ecosystem resilience, an in-depth understanding of ecological processes is urgently needed. Lakes, as providers of numerous ecosystem services, face multiple stressors that threaten their functioning. Harmful cyanobacterial blooms are a persistent problem resulting from nutrient pollution and climate-change induced stressors, like poor transparency, increased water temperature and enhanced stratification. Consistency in data collection and analysis methods is necessary to achieve fully comparable datasets and for statistical validity, avoiding issues linked to disparate data sources. The Europea…
Modelling the Impacts of Climate Change on Dissolved Organic Carbon
Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from peat soils has implications both for the ecology of receiving waters and for the quality and treatment costs of water used for human consumption. Fluxes of DOC from peat soils are also relevant in the context of the global carbon cycle. Chapter 12 in this volume has reviewed the evidence for the effects of different environmental factors on the decomposition of peat soils and the export of DOC, drawing on literature and long-term data acquired from a number of European sites. The conclusion from this and many other studies is that, although there may be other influences such as land management and recovery from acid deposition, climate factors are a major…
Stratification strength and light climate explain variation in chlorophyll a at the continental scale in a European multilake survey in a heatwave summer
The authors acknowledge COST Action ES 1105 "CYANOCOST Cyanobacterial blooms and toxins in water resources: Occurrence impacts and management" and COST Action Global Change Biology ES 1201 NETLAKE -Networking Lake Observatories in Europe" for contributing to this study through networking and knowledge sharing with European experts in the field. We acknowledge the members of the Global Lake Ecological Observatory Network (GLEON) for their collaborative spirit and enthusiasm that inspired the grassroots effort of the EMLS. E.M. was supported by a grant from the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation to Bas Ibelings and by supplementary funding from University of Geneva…
Modelling the Effects of Climate Change on the Supply of Inorganic Nitrogen
Human-induced changes in the nitrogen cycle due to the increased use of artificial fertilisers, the cultivation of nitrogen-fixing crops and atmospheric deposition have made nitrogen pollution to surface waters a long-standing cause for concern. In Europe, legislation has been introduced to minimise the risk of water quality degradation from excessive nitrogen inputs e.g., the European Union Nitrates Directive (EU, 1991), Drinking Water Directive (EU, 1998) and Water Framework Directive (EU, 2000). Coastal regions in particular have been an important focus, since coastal eutrophication has been attributed to increased fluxes of nitrogen from the landscape (Howarth et al., 1996; Boesch et al…
Modeling the Effects of Climate Change on Catchment Hydrology with the GWLF Model
The influence of catchment hydrology on the volume and timing of water inputs to waterbodies, and on the material loads of nutrients, sediment, and pollutants is central to any assessment of the impact of climate change on lakes. Changes in the timing and amount of precipitation, particularly when coupled with a change in air temperature, influence all the major components of the hydrological cycle, including evapotranspiration, snow dynamics, soil moisture, groundwater storage, baseflow, surface runoff, and streamflow.
Temperature effects explain continental scale distribution of cyanobacterial toxins
Insight into how environmental change determines the production and distribution of cyanobacterial toxins is necessary for risk assessment. Management guidelines currently focus on hepatotoxins (microcystins). Increasing attention is given to other classes, such as neurotoxins (e.g., anatoxin-a) and cytotoxins (e.g., cylindrospermopsin) due to their potency. Most studies examine the relationship between individual toxin variants and environmental factors, such as nutrients, temperature and light. In summer 2015, we collected samples across Europe to investigate the effect of nutrient and temperature gradients on the variability of toxin production at a continental scale. Direct and indirect…
Geographic and temporal variations in turbulent heat loss from lakes : A global analysis across 45 lakes
Heat fluxes at the lake surface play an integral part in determining the energy budget and thermal structure in lakes, including regulating how lakes respond to climate change. We explore patterns in turbulent heat fluxes, which vary across temporal and spatial scales, using in situ high-frequency monitoring data from 45 glob- ally distributed lakes. Our analysis demonstrates that some of the lakes studied follow a marked seasonal cycle in their turbulent surface fluxes and that turbulent heat loss is highest in larger lakes and those situated at low latitude. The Bowen ratio, which is the ratio of mean sensible to mean latent heat fluxes, is smaller at low lati- tudes and, in turn, the rel…
Modeling the Effects of Climate Change on the Supply of Phosphate-Phosphorus
The transfer of phosphorus from terrestrial to aquatic ecosystems is a key route through which climate can influence aquatic ecosystems. A number of climatic factors interact in complex ways to regulate the transfer of phosphorus and modulate its ecological effects on downstream lakes and reservoirs. Processes influencing both the amount and timing of phosphorus export from terrestrial watersheds must be quantified before we can assess the direct and indirect effects of the weather on the supply and recycling of phosphorus. Simulation of the export of phosphorus from the terrestrial environment is complicated by the fact that it is difficult to describe seasonal and inter-annual variations …