Monday, June 17, 2013

Warming Will Alter Lake Ecology

Scientific American:
Martin Dokulil of the Institute for Limnology at the University of Innsbruck studied data from nine lakes larger than 10 square kilometers, or about 2,500 acres. The largest, Bodensee or Lake Constance, touches Austria's border with Germany and Switzerland; on the other side of the country, 800 kilometers (500 miles) to the east, Neusiedler See borders Germany and Hungary.
The maximum depth of the nine lakes ranges from 2 meters to 254 meters (6.5 feet to 833 feet) and they are vital to Austria's tourist industry: They play powerful roles in the Alpine ecosystem in addition to being reservoirs of water.
But the Alpine valleys are warming: From 1980 to 1999 the region warmed three times the global average. By 2050 median temperatures for the region are expected to rise by 3.5°C. The challenge has been to anticipate the impact of global warming on the lakes, researchers say.
"The predicted changes in surface water temperatures will affect the thermal characteristics of the lakes," said Dokulil. "Warmer water temperatures could lead to enhanced nutrient loads and affect water quality by promoting algal blooms and impairing the biological functions of aquatic organisms.
I'm sure other species will flourish in the warmed lakes, but for all those conservative folks I know who hate change, alterations like these will prove greatly challenging.  The more the news comes in, the more gloomy I feel about the not-too-distant future.  It might not be as bad of a thing as I think to not have children to leave the mess we've made to.

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