Em Shilland

Diel surface temperature range scales with lake size

Ecological and biogeochemical processes in lakes are strongly dependent upon water temperature. Long-term surface warming of many lakes is unequivocal, but little is known about the comparative magnitude of temperature variation at diel timescales, due to a lack of appropriately resolved data. Here we quantify the pattern and magnitude of diel temperature variability of surface waters using high-frequency data from 100 lakes. We show that the near-surface diel temperature range can be substantial in summer relative to long-term change and, for lakes smaller than 3 km2, increases sharply and predictably with decreasing lake area. Most small lakes included in this study experience average summer diel ranges in their near-surface temperatures of between 4 and 7°C. Large diel temperature fluctuations in the majority of lakes undoubtedly influence their structure, function and role in biogeochemical cycles, but the full implications remain largely unexplored.

Recent environmental change in North African wetland lakes: diatom and other stratigraphic evidence from nine sites in the CASSARINA Project

All nine wetland lakes in the CASSARINA North African suite of sample sites have been disturbed strongly by human activity during the 20th century. Dated lake sediment core were used to provide evidence of the extent of recent environmental change at each site. Sedimentary diatoms at seven sites were useful for inferring salinity change trends during the last century. At two sites preservation problems severely degraded the sedimentary diatom record. Sediment core integrity was otherwise established.Lithostratigraphic measurements indicated some site specific changes in soil erosion and sediment composition but, for the Egyptian Delta lakes, no physical signal synchronous with Aswan High Dam construction was found. Sedimentary diatom assemblages were generally site characteristic and halophilous taxa were common. At two sites planktonic diatoms indicated some recent eutrophication but generally the assemblages were more indicative of salinity changes. Diatom-inferred salinity trends for the seven sites typically indicated that reductions in water salinity occurred sometime during the early or mid 20th century.Rather than climate, hydrological modification of water resources is implicated as the primary driver of salinity changes during most of the 20th century. In the western North African region these modifications were mainly local land drainage and water diversion programmes to alleviate winter flooding and/or promote summer water availability. In the Delta region, the Nile has been intensively exploited since antiquity and intensively so from the late 19th century to release more fresh water for agriculture. Here, diatom records indicate that freshening began well before the Aswan High Dam but salinity fluctuations have tended to diminish during the latter part of the 20th century. A small reversal in the water freshening trend in the 1980/90s was possibly a response to land subsidence/sea-level change or to reduced freshwater supply.Freshwater supply to the sites is generally diminishing as former freshwater surpluses switch to deficit. One site (Merja Bokka, Morocco) became completely dry in 1998 as agriculture encroached and Megene Chitane, the only acid lake in Tunisia, is currently affected by excessive inflow abstraction. At the beginning of the 21st century, eight of the nine CASSARINA sites persist as viable but modified aquatic ecosystems. They nevertheless continue to support valuable aquatic biodiversity, especially in the Delta sites and in Chitane. The modern diatom communities are clearly tolerant of considerable environmental change but the remaining sites are increasingly threatened by major hydrological disturbance. Base-line floristic data for the late 20th century are given but continuous biomonitoring combined with effective management is needed urgently to help conserve North Africas diminishing natural wetland lake resources.

DEPOSITION AND STORAGE OF SPHEROIDAL CARBONACEOUS FLY-ASH PARTICLES IN EUROPEAN MOUNTAIN LAKE SEDIMENTS AND CATCHMENT SOILS

Spheroidal carbonaceous particles(SCPs) are produced only from high temperaturecombustion of fossil-fuels. In mountain lakesystems, they provide an unambiguous indicator ofatmospheric deposition. In order to comparedepositional fluxes of SCPs between mountainareas experiencing various pollutant regimes,intensive bulk deposition sampling was undertakenat five sites across Europe. Catchment soil coresand lake sediment cores were also taken at eachsite to compare SCP storage over the post-industrial period. Atmospheric, sediment and soilSCP data showed similar patterns. Highestcontamination was found in Scotland, Slovakia andSpain with the Austrian site intermediate and themid-Norwegian site least contaminated. A highproportion of accumulated SCPs were found to bestored in catchment soils at each site.Therefore, a significant increase in soilerosion, possibly as a result of future climatechange, could lead to the input of largequantities of catchment stored SCPs and, byimplication, other atmospherically depositedcontaminants to the lake ecosystem.

Lake Jezero v Ledvici (NW Slovenia)- changes in sediment records over the last two centuries

Lake Jezero v Ledvici (NW Slovenia) is a 14 m deep mountain lake at an elevation of 1860 m, situated on limestone bedrock. It is an oligotrophic, alkaline and hard-water lake with a transparency of about 14 m and has suffered several times over recent centuries from strong earthquakes. In 1996 five sediment cores, between 35 and 45 cm long, were collected from the deepest part of the lake and analysed to reconstruct environmental changes over the last few centuries. The data indicate changes induced by pollution and climate change during the last two centuries similar to those in other European mountain and remote lakes. However, at this site earthquakes have also affected the lake and partly obscure the interpretation of the sediment record. From 1780 to 1890, sediment records show low abundance of diatoms and relatively high abundance of Cladocera. After 1890, the number of diatoms started to increase coinciding with a strong earthquake. From the beginning of the 20th century, concentrations of spheroidal carbonaceous particles (SCP), diatom valves and head capsules of chironomids gradually increased whilst in Cladocera the main difference observed was a change in the proportion of benthic taxa. After 1960, in parallel with a rise in air temperature, a further increase in accumulation rate of diatoms started, but there was a decrease in Cladocera.

Air pollutant contamination and acidification of surface waters in the North York Moors, UK: Multi-proxy evidence from the sediments of a moorland pool

Despite the extensive geographical range of palaeolimnological studies designed to assess the extent of surface water acidification in the United Kingdom during the 1980s, little attention was paid to the status of surface waters in the North York Moors (NYM). In this paper, we present sediment core data from a moorland pool in the NYM that provide a record of air pollution contamination and surface water acidification. The 41-cm-long core was divided into three lithostratigraphic units. The lower two comprise peaty soils and peats, respectively, that date to between approximately 8080 and 6740 cal. BP. The uppermost unit comprises peaty lake muds dating from between approximately ad 1790 and the present day (ad 2006). The lower two units contain pollen dominated by forest taxa, whereas the uppermost unit contains pollen indicative of open landscape conditions similar to those of the present. Heavy metal, spheroidal carbonaceous particle, mineral magnetics and stable isotope analysis of the upper sediments show clear evidence of contamination by air pollutants derived from fossil-fuel combustion over the last c. 150 years, and diatom analysis indicates that the naturally acidic pool became more acidic during the 20th century. We conclude that the exceptionally acidic surface waters of the pool at present (pH = c. 4.1) are the result of a long history of air pollution and not because of naturally acidic local conditions. We argue that the highly acidic surface waters elsewhere in the NYM are similarly acidified and that the lack of evidence of significant recovery from acidification, despite major reductions in the emissions of acidic gases that have taken place over the last c. 30 years, indicates the continuing influence of pollutant sulphur stored in catchment peats, a legacy of over 150 years of acid deposition.