Climate Change Effects on Hydroecology of Arctic Freshwater Ecosystems

Abstract

In general, the arctic freshwater-terrestrial system will warm more rapidly than the global average, particularly during the autumn and winter season. The decline or loss of many cryospheric components and a shift from a nival to an increasingly pluvial system will produce numerous physical effects on freshwater ecosystems. Of particular note will be reductions in the dominance of the spring freshet and changes in the intensity of river-ice breakup. Increased evaporation/evapotranspiration due to longer ice-free seasons, higher air/water temperatures and greater transpiring vegetation along with increase infiltration because of permafrost thaw will decrease surface water levels and coverage. Loss of ice and permafrost, increased water temperatures and vegetation shifts will alter water chemistry, the general result being an increase in lotic and lentic productivity. Changes in ice and water flow/levels will lead to regime-specific increases and decreases in habitat availability/quality across the circumpolar Arctic.

Complex genetic diversity patterns of cryptic, sympatric brown trout (Salmo trutta) populations in tiny mountain lakes

“…Also, the brown trout represents a high socio-economic value as target for both sports and commercial fisheries (Marco-Rius et al 2013). At the same time, rapid climate change is expected to be particularly severe for freshwater habitats such as the ones studied in the present paper (Prowse et al 2006;Ficke et al 2007). Taking all these aspects together, the brown trout represents a typical species to which the Aichi Target 13 of the CBD Strategic Plan 2011-2020 applies and for which increased efforts are needed to understand and safeguard genetic biodiversity.…”

A combined paleolimnological/genetic analysis of diatoms reveals divergent evolutionary lineages of Staurosira and Staurosirella (Bacillariophyta) in Siberian lake sediments along a latitudinal transect

“…Although treeline advances into tundra have been documented in the Russian Arctic (Esper and Schweingruber 2004), little is known about climate change in this region and its impacts on ecosystems, as such research has focused mainly on Alaska, Canada, and Scandinavia. A number of studies on high-latitude ponds and lakes in these areas have, however, illustrated how dramatically the biota has been impacted by Arctic climate change, resulting in pronounced changes in the freshwater communities (Prowse et al 2006;Smol et al 2005).…”

Cultural eutrophication, anoxia, and ecosystem recovery in Meretta Lake, High Arctic Canada

“…However, as growth and development continue around the Arctic, the freshwaters of the region will be increasingly subject to human-induced eutrophication (Schindler and Smol 2006). Increased nutrient influx to lakes-and therefore higher trophic status-is also among the predicted effects of climate warming in Arctic aquatic ecosystems independent of point-source pollution (Prowse et al 2006). Some degree of eutrophication is therefore probable in most Arctic lakes in the future, and understanding the effects of these trophic increases is a critical element of predicting future limnological change across the Arctic.…”