Climate change forces new ecological states in tropical Andean lakes.
Air temperatures in the tropical Andes have risen at an accelerated rate relative to the global average over recent decades. However, the effects of climate change on Andean lakes, which are vital to sustaining regional biodiversity and serve as an important water resource to local populations, rema...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2015-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4315470?pdf=render |
| _version_ | 1819074165576040448 |
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| author | Neal Michelutti Alexander P Wolfe Colin A Cooke William O Hobbs Mathias Vuille John P Smol |
| author_facet | Neal Michelutti Alexander P Wolfe Colin A Cooke William O Hobbs Mathias Vuille John P Smol |
| author_sort | Neal Michelutti |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Air temperatures in the tropical Andes have risen at an accelerated rate relative to the global average over recent decades. However, the effects of climate change on Andean lakes, which are vital to sustaining regional biodiversity and serve as an important water resource to local populations, remain largely unknown. Here, we show that recent climate changes have forced alpine lakes of the equatorial Andes towards new ecological and physical states, in close synchrony to the rapid shrinkage of glaciers regionally. Using dated sediment cores from three lakes in the southern Sierra of Ecuador, we record abrupt increases in the planktonic thalassiosiroid diatom Discostella stelligera from trace abundances to dominance within the phytoplankton. This unprecedented shift occurs against the backdrop of rising temperatures, changing atmospheric pressure fields, and declining wind speeds. Ecological restructuring in these lakes is linked to warming and/or enhanced water column stratification. In contrast to seasonally ice-covered Arctic and temperate alpine counterparts, aquatic production has not increased universally with warming, and has even declined in some lakes, possibly because enhanced thermal stability impedes the re-circulation of hypolimnetic nutrients to surface waters. Our results demonstrate that these lakes have already passed important ecological thresholds, with potentially far-reaching consequences for Andean water resources. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T18:05:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-0964b787278e4db89783a08b0279b929 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T18:05:11Z |
| publishDate | 2015-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-0964b787278e4db89783a08b0279b9292022-12-21T18:54:57ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032015-01-01102e011533810.1371/journal.pone.0115338Climate change forces new ecological states in tropical Andean lakes.Neal MicheluttiAlexander P WolfeColin A CookeWilliam O HobbsMathias VuilleJohn P SmolAir temperatures in the tropical Andes have risen at an accelerated rate relative to the global average over recent decades. However, the effects of climate change on Andean lakes, which are vital to sustaining regional biodiversity and serve as an important water resource to local populations, remain largely unknown. Here, we show that recent climate changes have forced alpine lakes of the equatorial Andes towards new ecological and physical states, in close synchrony to the rapid shrinkage of glaciers regionally. Using dated sediment cores from three lakes in the southern Sierra of Ecuador, we record abrupt increases in the planktonic thalassiosiroid diatom Discostella stelligera from trace abundances to dominance within the phytoplankton. This unprecedented shift occurs against the backdrop of rising temperatures, changing atmospheric pressure fields, and declining wind speeds. Ecological restructuring in these lakes is linked to warming and/or enhanced water column stratification. In contrast to seasonally ice-covered Arctic and temperate alpine counterparts, aquatic production has not increased universally with warming, and has even declined in some lakes, possibly because enhanced thermal stability impedes the re-circulation of hypolimnetic nutrients to surface waters. Our results demonstrate that these lakes have already passed important ecological thresholds, with potentially far-reaching consequences for Andean water resources.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4315470?pdf=render |
| spellingShingle | Neal Michelutti Alexander P Wolfe Colin A Cooke William O Hobbs Mathias Vuille John P Smol Climate change forces new ecological states in tropical Andean lakes. PLoS ONE |
| title | Climate change forces new ecological states in tropical Andean lakes. |
| title_full | Climate change forces new ecological states in tropical Andean lakes. |
| title_fullStr | Climate change forces new ecological states in tropical Andean lakes. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Climate change forces new ecological states in tropical Andean lakes. |
| title_short | Climate change forces new ecological states in tropical Andean lakes. |
| title_sort | climate change forces new ecological states in tropical andean lakes |
| url | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4315470?pdf=render |
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