Decline of the world's saline lakes

Wurtsbaugh, Wayne A.; Miller, Carlin J.; Null, Sarah E.; DeRose, R. Justin; Wilcock, Peter Richard; Hahnenberger, Maura; Howe, Frank P.; Moore, Johnnie N.

doi:10.1038/ngeo3052

Cited by 435 publications

(324 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…This indicates that climate change is not entirely responsible for recent changes in lake elevation and salinity (Wurtsbaugh et al. ). Rather, increasing consumptive water use over the past 140 yr (39% of river flow input is now diverted) has been implicated as the primary driver in the decrease in lake elevation by 3.6 m, which also represents a decrease in volumetric percentage of 48% and a decrease in surface area of 50%.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of salinity on microbialite‐associated production in Great Salt Lake, Utah

Lindsay

Johnston

Baxter

et al. 2019

Ecology

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Microbialites, organosedimentary carbonate structures, cover approximately 20% of the basin floor in the south arm of Great Salt Lake, which ranges from ~12 to 15% salinity. Photosynthetic microbial mats associated with these benthic mounds contribute biomass that supports secondary production in the ecosystem, including that of the brine shrimp, Artemia franciscana. However, the effects of predicted increases in the salinity of the lake on the productivity and composition of these mats and on A. franciscana fecundity is not well documented. In the present study, we applied molecular and microcosm‐based approaches to investigate the effects of changing salinity on (1) the primary productivity, abundance, and composition of microbialite‐associated mats of GSL, and (2) the fecundity and survivability of the secondary consumer, A. franciscana. When compared to microcosms incubated closest to the in situ measured salinity of 15.6%, the abundance of 16S rRNA gene templates increased in microcosms with lower salinities and decreased in those with higher salinities following a 7‐week incubation period. The abundance of 16S rRNA gene sequences affiliated with dominant primary producers, including the cyanobacterium Euhalothece and the diatom Navicula, increased in microcosms incubated at decreased salinity, but decreased in microcosms incubated at increased salinity. Increased salinity also decreased the rate of primary production in microcosm assays containing mats incubated for 7 weeks and decreased the number of A. franciscana cysts that hatched and survived. These results indicate that an increase in the salinity of GSL is likely to have a negative impact on the productivity of microbialite communities and the fecundity and survivability of A. franciscana. These observations suggest that a sustained increase in the salinity of GSL and the effects this has on primary and secondary production could have an upward and negative cascading effect on higher‐trophic‐level ecological compartments that depend on A. franciscana as a food source, including a number of species of migratory birds.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of salinity on microbialite‐associated production in Great Salt Lake, Utah

Lindsay

Johnston

Baxter

et al. 2019

Ecology

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“…Lake Urmia has been studied widely in terms of lake water level monitoring (Abbaspour, Javid, Mirbagheri, Givi, & Moghimi, ; Farzin, Ifaei, Farzin, Hassanzadeh, & Aalami, ; Hadi, Shokri, & Ayubi, ; Hassanzadeh, Zarghami, & Hassanzadeh, ; Kakahaji, Banadaki, Kakahaji, & Kakahaji, ; Khatami, ; Marjani & Jamali, ; Talebizadeh & Moridnejad, ; Tisseuil, Roshan, Nasrabadi, & Asadpour, ; Vaheddoost, Aksoy, & Abghari, ; Vaheddoost, Zare Naghadeh, Abghari, Aksoy, & Ozkul, ; Wurtsbaugh et al, ), yet studies on groundwater in the Lake Urmia basin has been limited. To brief the groundwater literature, Zarghami () found that groundwater level has decreased by 16 m in some parts of the Lake Urmia basin due to accelerated use of groundwater for irrigation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interaction of groundwater with Lake Urmia in Iran

Vaheddoost

Aksoy

2018

Hydrological Processes

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Being a large hyper‐saline water body, Lake Urmia in north‐western Iran deals with a gradual decline in its water level. Most of the studies on Lake Urmia have neglected the groundwater issue. In this study, as a direct approach, the interaction between the groundwater level and the lake water level is investigated both in time and space by analysing the groundwater data compiled from observation wells surrounding the lake. Baseflow separation is considered as an indirect approach to understand the groundwater contribution to the river network flowing into the lake. It is determined that about 70% of run‐off in the rivers draining into the lake is born in the form of baseflow. An interaction between the lake and the groundwater storage is clearly seen from the analysis to conclude that groundwater has a potential to recharge the lake. Thus, the shrinkage of water level in Lake Urmia could be expected to accelerate with the drastic use of groundwater, which will be a disaster with no return.

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“…Despite the possibility that Earth's inland waters may already be influenced by climate change, a large body of literature demonstrates compellingly the dominant role of nonclimatic factors—chiefly the expansion of irrigated agriculture to support a growing human population (AghaKouchak, Norouzi, et al, ; Chaudhari, Felfelani, Shin, & Pokhrel, ; Fazel, Haghighi, & Klove, ; Micklin, ; Micklin, ; Moore, ; Morin, Ryb, Gavrieli, & Enzel, ; Rodell et al, ; Wine, Rimmer, & Laronne, ; Wurtsbaugh et al, ). Even if climate change is not the primary driver of the observed desiccation of many of Earth's inland water bodies, it of course remains a valid line of inquiry (particularly when the inquiry is performed rigorously).…”

Section: Climate Change Global Change and The Risk Of Climatizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Untangling global change impacts on hydrological processes: Resisting climatization

Wine

Davison

2019

Hydrological Processes

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Decline of the world's saline lakes

Cited by 435 publications

References 32 publications

Effects of salinity on microbialite‐associated production in Great Salt Lake, Utah

Effects of salinity on microbialite‐associated production in Great Salt Lake, Utah

Interaction of groundwater with Lake Urmia in Iran

Untangling global change impacts on hydrological processes: Resisting climatization

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