Cumulative Effects of Climate Warming and Other Human Activities on Freshwaters of Arctic and Subarctic North America
Despite their generally isolated geographic locations, the freshwaters of the north are subjected to a wide spectrum of environmental stressors. High-latitude regions are especially sensitive to the effects of recent climatic warming, which have already resulted in marked regime shifts in the biolog...
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ftbioone:10.1579/0044-7447(2006)35[160:CEOCWA]2.0.CO;2 2023-07-30T04:01:10+02:00 Cumulative Effects of Climate Warming and Other Human Activities on Freshwaters of Arctic and Subarctic North America David W. Schindler John P. Smol David W. Schindler John P. Smol world 2006-06-01 text/HTML https://doi.org/10.1579/0044-7447(2006)35[160:CEOCWA]2.0.CO;2 en eng Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences doi:10.1579/0044-7447(2006)35[160:CEOCWA]2.0.CO;2 All rights reserved. https://doi.org/10.1579/0044-7447(2006)35[160:CEOCWA]2.0.CO;2 Text 2006 ftbioone https://doi.org/10.1579/0044-7447(2006)35[160:CEOCWA]2.0.CO;2 2023-07-09T09:33:29Z Despite their generally isolated geographic locations, the freshwaters of the north are subjected to a wide spectrum of environmental stressors. High-latitude regions are especially sensitive to the effects of recent climatic warming, which have already resulted in marked regime shifts in the biological communities of many Arctic lakes and ponds. Important drivers of these limnological changes have included changes in the amount and duration of snow and ice cover, and, for rivers and lakes in their deltas, the frequency and extent of spring floods. Other important climate-related shifts include alterations in evaporation and precipitation ratios, marked changes in the quality and quantity of lake and river water inflows due to accelerated glacier and permafrost melting, and declining percentages of precipitation that falls as snow. The depletion of stratospheric ozone over the north, together with the clarity of many Arctic lakes, renders them especially susceptible to damage from ultraviolet radiation. In addition, the long-range atmospheric transport of pollutants, coupled with the focusing effects of contaminant transport from biological vectors to some local ecosystems (e.g., salmon nursery lakes, ponds draining seabird colonies) and biomagnification in long food chains, have led to elevated concentrations of many persistent organic pollutants (e.g., insecticides, which have never been used in Arctic regions) and other pollutants (e.g., mercury). Rapid development of gas and oil pipelines, mining for diamonds and metals, increases in human populations, and the development of all-season roads, seaports, and hydroelectric dams will stress northern aquatic ecosystems. The cumulative effects of these stresses will be far more serious than those caused by changing climate alone. Text Arctic Ice permafrost Subarctic BioOne Online Journals Arctic |
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Despite their generally isolated geographic locations, the freshwaters of the north are subjected to a wide spectrum of environmental stressors. High-latitude regions are especially sensitive to the effects of recent climatic warming, which have already resulted in marked regime shifts in the biological communities of many Arctic lakes and ponds. Important drivers of these limnological changes have included changes in the amount and duration of snow and ice cover, and, for rivers and lakes in their deltas, the frequency and extent of spring floods. Other important climate-related shifts include alterations in evaporation and precipitation ratios, marked changes in the quality and quantity of lake and river water inflows due to accelerated glacier and permafrost melting, and declining percentages of precipitation that falls as snow. The depletion of stratospheric ozone over the north, together with the clarity of many Arctic lakes, renders them especially susceptible to damage from ultraviolet radiation. In addition, the long-range atmospheric transport of pollutants, coupled with the focusing effects of contaminant transport from biological vectors to some local ecosystems (e.g., salmon nursery lakes, ponds draining seabird colonies) and biomagnification in long food chains, have led to elevated concentrations of many persistent organic pollutants (e.g., insecticides, which have never been used in Arctic regions) and other pollutants (e.g., mercury). Rapid development of gas and oil pipelines, mining for diamonds and metals, increases in human populations, and the development of all-season roads, seaports, and hydroelectric dams will stress northern aquatic ecosystems. The cumulative effects of these stresses will be far more serious than those caused by changing climate alone. |
author2 |
David W. Schindler John P. Smol |
format |
Text |
author |
David W. Schindler John P. Smol |
spellingShingle |
David W. Schindler John P. Smol Cumulative Effects of Climate Warming and Other Human Activities on Freshwaters of Arctic and Subarctic North America |
author_facet |
David W. Schindler John P. Smol |
author_sort |
David W. Schindler |
title |
Cumulative Effects of Climate Warming and Other Human Activities on Freshwaters of Arctic and Subarctic North America |
title_short |
Cumulative Effects of Climate Warming and Other Human Activities on Freshwaters of Arctic and Subarctic North America |
title_full |
Cumulative Effects of Climate Warming and Other Human Activities on Freshwaters of Arctic and Subarctic North America |
title_fullStr |
Cumulative Effects of Climate Warming and Other Human Activities on Freshwaters of Arctic and Subarctic North America |
title_full_unstemmed |
Cumulative Effects of Climate Warming and Other Human Activities on Freshwaters of Arctic and Subarctic North America |
title_sort |
cumulative effects of climate warming and other human activities on freshwaters of arctic and subarctic north america |
publisher |
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences |
publishDate |
2006 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1579/0044-7447(2006)35[160:CEOCWA]2.0.CO;2 |
op_coverage |
world |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
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Arctic Ice permafrost Subarctic |
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Arctic Ice permafrost Subarctic |
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https://doi.org/10.1579/0044-7447(2006)35[160:CEOCWA]2.0.CO;2 |
op_relation |
doi:10.1579/0044-7447(2006)35[160:CEOCWA]2.0.CO;2 |
op_rights |
All rights reserved. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1579/0044-7447(2006)35[160:CEOCWA]2.0.CO;2 |
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