Abruptly and irreversibly changing Arctic freshwaters urgently require standardized monitoring

Abstract

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Lakes in the era of global change: moving beyond single‐lake thinking in maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services

“…Nature's contributions to people are increasingly considered equivalent to ‘ecosystem services’ (Millenium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005), although they comprise more than proposed by the original ecosystem services framework (Díaz et al ., 2018). The idea of nature's contributions to people emphasizes the important role that culture plays in determining links between people and nature and highlights the role of indigenous and local knowledge in understanding the value of nature (Heino et al ., 2020). However, this idea has not frequently been considered in the context of freshwater ecosystems, although they are among the most important ecosystems for human well‐being.…”

“…Ultimately, research across disciplinary fields (e.g. climatological, limnological, ecological, and societal) is needed to address the challenges that humanity faces in the Anthropocene (Alahuhta et al ., 2020; Heino et al ., 2020; Angeler et al ., 2020 a ), and in which lakes play an important role in providing ecosystem services.Such an approach, considering simultaneously the different forms of ecosystem services that lakes provide individually or jointly at the waterscape level, will be vital for managing the reliance of humans on biodiversity and natural ecosystems (Müller, Groot, & Willemen, 2010; Giakoumis & Voulvoulis, 2018) (Fig. 4).…”

The physical and chemical limnology of Yukon’s largest lake, Lhù’ààn Mân’ (Kluane Lake), prior to the 2016 ‘A’ą̈y Chù’ diversion

“…The paucity of limnological surveys and scientific long-term observations is particularly evident in the North, and is heavily influenced by unique resource constraints, logistical challenges, and severe weather conditions. Nevertheless, the need for adequate baseline knowledge, monitoring, local and Indigenous knowledge of these systems is urgent, given their heightened vulnerability to Arctic amplification (Prowse et al 2011a;Prowse et al 2015;Heino et al 2020) and the presence of permafrost and/or glaciers in these watersheds. Some exceptions exist, such as Lake Hazen, the world's largest High Arctic lake located on Ellesmere Island, Nunavut (St. Pierre et al 2019;Lehnherr et al 2018), which has a rich history of scientific research and monitoring.…”

Stream diatom assemblages in an Arctic catchment: diversity and relationship to ecosystem-scale primary production

“…Arctic streams and rivers are among the most sensitive ecosystems to climate change, and are subject to widespread shifts in the composition of their biological communities (Lento et al 2019;Heino et al 2020). Hence, there is an urgent need to understand the status of biodiversity in Arctic streams and rivers, and the consequences of this biodiversity for ecosystem function (Heino et al 2020).…”

“…Arctic streams and rivers are among the most sensitive ecosystems to climate change, and are subject to widespread shifts in the composition of their biological communities (Lento et al 2019;Heino et al 2020). Hence, there is an urgent need to understand the status of biodiversity in Arctic streams and rivers, and the consequences of this biodiversity for ecosystem function (Heino et al 2020). This is particularly true for benthic diatoms, which are key components of the benthic biofilms that both respond to environmental change and transmit these changes to the lotic food web (Guasch and Sabater 1995;Battin et al 2016).…”