[MCN] We're seeing early stages of changing lakes, and few Americans see climate or environment as most important issue facing the nation

[Lance Olsen]

25-May-2022 <https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/953796>
A vicious cycle of oxygen loss threatens water quality in lakes, new Virginia Tech study says <https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/953796>
 <https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/953796>
Scientists have recently confirmed that the world’s lakes are rapidly losing oxygen. With a seven-year, whole-ecosystem study, a team of freshwater scientists at Virginia Tech has been one of the first to take the next step in asking: What does it mean for water quality that oxygen is declining globally? <https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/953796>
 <https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/953796>
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/953796 <https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/953796>

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22-Sep-2022 <https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/965646>
 <https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/965646>
Climate change is making lakes less blue <https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/965646>
 <https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/965646>
 <https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/965646>
If global warming persists, blue lakes worldwide are at risk of turning green-brown, according to a new study which presents the first global inventory of lake color. Shifts in lake water color can indicate a loss of ecosystem health. While substances such as algae and sediments can affect the color of lakes, the new study finds air temperature, precipitation, lake depth and elevation also play important roles in determining a lake’s most common water color. <https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/965646>
 <https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/965646>
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/965646 <https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/965646>

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PNAS August 22, 2022
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2116413119 <https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2116413119>

Regime shifts, trends, and variability of lake productivity at a global scale
Luis J. Gilarranz <https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2116413119#con1>, Anita Narwani <https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2116413119#con2>, Daniel Odermatt <https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2116413119#con3>, Rosi Siber <https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2116413119#con4>, and Vasilis Dakos <https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2116413119#con5>


Significance

Lakes can change dramatically following a slow change in conditions. They can abruptly shift from being oligotrophic to eutrophic or vice versa, in what is called a regime shift. Despite the important consequences for ecosystems and human activities of abrupt shifts, we do not know how frequent they are or how they are distributed globally. To answer these questions, we analyze lake productivity dynamics of 1,015 lakes worldwide. Our results show few experienced regime shifts, yet the occurrence of observed regime shifts is increasing over time. Our analysis' global scope allows us to better understand the occurrence of regime shifts and the socioeconomic drivers associated with them. This knowledge will help manage lakes' response to global change.

Abstract

Lakes are often described as sentinels of global change. Phenomena like lake eutrophication, algal blooms, or reorganization in community composition belong to the most studied ecosystem regime shifts. However, although regime shifts have been well documented in several lakes, a global assessment of the prevalence of regime shifts is still missing, and, more in general, of the factors altering stability in lake status, is missing. Here, we provide a first global assessment of regime shifts and stability in the productivity of 1,015 lakes worldwide using trophic state index (TSI) time series derived from satellite imagery. We find that 12.8% of the lakes studied show regime shifts whose signatures are compatible with tipping points, while the number of detected regime shifts from low to high TSI has increased over time. Although our results suggest an overall stable picture for global lake dynamics, the limited instability signatures do not mean that lakes are insensitive to global change. Modeling the interaction between lake climatic, geophysical, and socioeconomic features and their stability properties, we find that the probability of a lake experiencing a tipping point increases with human population density in its catchment, while it decreases as the gross domestic product of that population increases. Our results show how quantifying lake productivity dynamics at a global scale highlights socioeconomic inequalities in conserving natural environments.

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U.S. Opinion and the Election: Guns, Immigration, Climate <https://news.gallup.com/opinion/polling-matters/403742/opinion-election-guns-immigration-climate.aspx>
https://news.gallup.com › opinion › polling-matters › opi... <https://news.gallup.com/opinion/polling-matters/403742/opinion-election-guns-immigration-climate.aspx>

Climate Change

“Only 3% of Americans mentioned issues relating to the environment, pollution or climate change as the most important U.S. problem in Gallup's September update <https://news.gallup.com/poll/1675/Most-Important-Problem.aspx>. Other polls rarely show that climate change is perceived as more important than a number of other concerns when Americans are asked to rate the importance of lists of the nation's problems.”d to rate the importance of lists of the nation's problems.”

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biodiversity footprint is defined as “The impact of a commodity, company, person. or community on global biodiversity, measured in terms of biodiversity change, as a result of production and consumption of particular goods and services”.

Biodiversity footprints in policy- and decision-making

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