From Arctic ponds to the “Northern Great Lakes”: Algae as first responders of climate‐driven regime shifts
Abstract Arctic freshwater ecosystems are on the “frontline” of climate change, but due to a lack of direct long‐term monitoring data, indirect approaches, such as algal‐based paleolimnology, must be used to reconstruct past limnological conditions. Our understanding of the responses of small‐ to mi...
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crwiley:10.1111/jpy.13494 2024-09-15T18:02:12+00:00 From Arctic ponds to the “Northern Great Lakes”: Algae as first responders of climate‐driven regime shifts Smol, John P. Rühland, Kathleen M. Michelutti, Neal Evans, Marlene S. Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Environment and Climate Change Canada Northern Contaminants Program 2024 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jpy.13494 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/jpy.13494 en eng Wiley http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Journal of Phycology ISSN 0022-3646 1529-8817 journal-article 2024 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1111/jpy.13494 2024-09-03T04:24:09Z Abstract Arctic freshwater ecosystems are on the “frontline” of climate change, but due to a lack of direct long‐term monitoring data, indirect approaches, such as algal‐based paleolimnology, must be used to reconstruct past limnological conditions. Our understanding of the responses of small‐ to mid‐sized Arctic lakes to climate warming has increased over the last ~30 years. However, until recently, little was known about even the basic limnological conditions of Canada's “Northern Great Lakes,” such as Lake Hazen, Great Bear Lake, and Great Slave Lake. In this summary, we show that a continuum of algal changes, observable in the sedimentary archives of shallow ponds to very large Arctic lakes, signals the crossing of key aquatic thresholds linked to changing ice covers and thermal regimes, declining wind speeds, and other climate‐related variables. With recent accelerated warming, even the largest and most resilient Arctic waterbodies are now fundamentally different than they were just a few decades ago. These changes will undoubtedly cascade throughout the food web leading to important changes for local Indigenous populations as well as the global community. Article in Journal/Newspaper Climate change Great Bear Lake Great Slave Lake Lake Hazen Wiley Online Library Journal of Phycology |
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Open Polar |
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Wiley Online Library |
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crwiley |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract Arctic freshwater ecosystems are on the “frontline” of climate change, but due to a lack of direct long‐term monitoring data, indirect approaches, such as algal‐based paleolimnology, must be used to reconstruct past limnological conditions. Our understanding of the responses of small‐ to mid‐sized Arctic lakes to climate warming has increased over the last ~30 years. However, until recently, little was known about even the basic limnological conditions of Canada's “Northern Great Lakes,” such as Lake Hazen, Great Bear Lake, and Great Slave Lake. In this summary, we show that a continuum of algal changes, observable in the sedimentary archives of shallow ponds to very large Arctic lakes, signals the crossing of key aquatic thresholds linked to changing ice covers and thermal regimes, declining wind speeds, and other climate‐related variables. With recent accelerated warming, even the largest and most resilient Arctic waterbodies are now fundamentally different than they were just a few decades ago. These changes will undoubtedly cascade throughout the food web leading to important changes for local Indigenous populations as well as the global community. |
author2 |
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Environment and Climate Change Canada Northern Contaminants Program |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Smol, John P. Rühland, Kathleen M. Michelutti, Neal Evans, Marlene S. |
spellingShingle |
Smol, John P. Rühland, Kathleen M. Michelutti, Neal Evans, Marlene S. From Arctic ponds to the “Northern Great Lakes”: Algae as first responders of climate‐driven regime shifts |
author_facet |
Smol, John P. Rühland, Kathleen M. Michelutti, Neal Evans, Marlene S. |
author_sort |
Smol, John P. |
title |
From Arctic ponds to the “Northern Great Lakes”: Algae as first responders of climate‐driven regime shifts |
title_short |
From Arctic ponds to the “Northern Great Lakes”: Algae as first responders of climate‐driven regime shifts |
title_full |
From Arctic ponds to the “Northern Great Lakes”: Algae as first responders of climate‐driven regime shifts |
title_fullStr |
From Arctic ponds to the “Northern Great Lakes”: Algae as first responders of climate‐driven regime shifts |
title_full_unstemmed |
From Arctic ponds to the “Northern Great Lakes”: Algae as first responders of climate‐driven regime shifts |
title_sort |
from arctic ponds to the “northern great lakes”: algae as first responders of climate‐driven regime shifts |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jpy.13494 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/jpy.13494 |
genre |
Climate change Great Bear Lake Great Slave Lake Lake Hazen |
genre_facet |
Climate change Great Bear Lake Great Slave Lake Lake Hazen |
op_source |
Journal of Phycology ISSN 0022-3646 1529-8817 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/jpy.13494 |
container_title |
Journal of Phycology |
_version_ |
1810439583924486144 |