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Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from small inland waters are disproportionately large. Climate warming is expected to favor dominance of algae and free-floating plants at the expense of submerged plants. Through different routes these functional plant types may have far-reaching impacts on freshwater GHG emissions in future warmer waters, which are yet unknown. We conducted a 1,000 L mesocosm experiment testing the effects of plant type and warming on GHG emissions from temperate inland waters dominated by either algae, free-floating or submerged plants in controls and warmed (+4 °C) treatments for one year each. Our results show that the effect of experimental warming on GHG fluxes differs between dominance of different functional plant types, mainly by modulating methane ebullition, an often-dominant GHG emission pathway. Specifically, we demonstrate that the response to experimental warming was strongest for free-floating and lowest for submerged plant-dominated systems. Importantly, our results suggest that anticipated shifts in plant type from submerged plants to a dominance of algae or free-floating plants with warming may increase total GHG emissions from shallow waters. This, together with a warming-induced emission response, represents a so far overlooked positive climate feedback. Management strategies aimed at favouring submerged plant dominance may thus substantially mitigate GHG emissions.

Shallow lakes can shift between stable states as a result of anthropogenic or natural drivers. Four common stable states differ in dominant groups of primary producers: submerged, floating, or emergent macrophytes or phytoplankton. Shifts in primary producer dominance affect key supporting, provisioning, regulating, and cultural ecosystem services supplied by lakes. However, links between states and services are often neglected or unknown in lake management, resulting in conflicts and additional costs. Here, we identify major shallow lake ecosystem services and their links to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), compare service provisioning among the four ecosystem states and discuss potential trade-offs. We identified 39 ecosystem services potentially provided by shallow lakes. Submerged macrophytes facilitate most of the supporting (86%) and cultural (63%) services, emergent macrophytes facilitate most regulating services (60%), and both emergent and floating macrophytes facilitate most provisioning services (63%). Phytoplankton dominance supports fewer ecosystem services, and contributes most to provisioning services (42%). The shallow lake ecosystem services we identified could be linked to 10 different SDGs, notably zero hunger (SDG 2), clean water and sanitation (SDG 6), sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11), and climate action (SDG13). We highlighted several trade-offs (1) among ecosystem services, (2) within ecosystem services, and (3) between ecosystem services across ecosystems. These trade-offs can have significant ecological and economic consequences that may be prevented by early identification in water quality management. In conclusion, common stable states in shallow lakes provide a different and diverse set of ecosystem services with numerous links to the majority of SDGs. Conserving and restoring ecosystem states should account for potential trade-offs between ecosystem services and preserving the natural value of shallow lakes.

Microbes play a critical role in plant litter decomposition and influence the fate of carbon in rivers and riparian zones. When decomposing low-nutrient plant litter, microbes acquire nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) from the environment (i.e., nutrient immobilization), and this process is potentially sensitive to nutrient loading and changing climate. Nonetheless, environmental controls on immobilization are poorly understood because rates are also influenced by plant litter chemistry, which is coupled to the same environmental factors. Here we used a standardized, low-nutrient organic matter substrate (cotton strips) to quantify nutrient immobilization at 100 paired stream and riparian sites representing 11 biomes worldwide. Immobilization rates varied by three orders of magnitude, were greater in rivers than riparian zones, and were strongly correlated to decomposition rates. In rivers, P immobilization rates were controlled by surface water phosphate concentrations, but N immobilization rates were not related to inorganic N. The N:P of immobilized nutrients was tightly constrained to a molar ratio of 10:1 despite wide variation in surface water N:P. Immobilization rates were temperature-dependent in riparian zones but not related to temperature in rivers. However, in rivers nutrient supply ultimately controlled whether microbes could achieve the maximum expected decomposition rate at a given temperature. Collectively, we demonstrated that exogenous nutrient supply and immobilization are critical control points for decomposition of organic matter. Key Points • Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) immobilization was measured on organic matter (cotton) in 100 rivers and riparian zones representing 11 biomes • Elevated temperature in riparian zones and phosphate in rivers increased immobilization, and consequently accelerated decomposition • N and P immobilization was strongly linked by microbial stoichiometry despite widely varied surface-water nutrient ratios Plain Language Summary Bacteria and fungi contribute to the breakdown of leaf litter in rivers and floodplains. To break down leaf litter, these microbes need the nutrients nitrogen and phosphorus (P), and microbes can get nutrients either from the leaf litter itself or from the environment. Most leaf litter has low nutrient content and microbes must rely on the environment to supply nutrients. We studied microbial nutrient uptake from the environment during litter breakdown to determine whether it varies predictably across the globe and how it is influenced by changing climate and nutrient pollution. In 100 rivers and floodplains in 11 of Earth's major biomes we placed small strips of cotton as stand-ins for leaf litter. Nutrient uptake was consistently greater on cotton strips that were submerged in the river compared to cotton on the floodplain. For microbes in the river, nutrient uptake was faster in instances where there was more P in the water. For microbes in the floodplain, nutrient uptake was faster where temperatures were warmer. Faster nutrient uptake by microbes was linked with faster cotton breakdown in rivers and floodplains. Our study shows that climate change and nutrient pollution can alter the activity of microbes in rivers and floodplains.

Water hyacinth stands are known to affect both nutrient concentrations in the water and carbon exchange with the atmosphere. However, both enhanced and reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have been reported in relation to water hyacinth presence. This controversy may be explained by variation in plant density and rooting. High growth rates indicate its capacity to mobilize and store nutrients in the tissues, and assimilate large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2). Simultaneously the plant can stimulate methane (CH4) emission. This may occur when plants are rooting in the sediment due to CH4 shuttling from the sediment, through the plant, into the atmosphere. To unravel the potential influences of water hyacinth on nutrient dynamics and GHG fluxes, we performed an experiment in which plant coverage and root access to the sediment were manipulated. Plants reduced phosphorus concentrations in water and pore-water, independent of coverage and rooting, also rooting plants grown at high coverage showed higher plant N:P ratios. CH4 emissions were highest at high coverage and were further increased by rooting, indicating that plant-mediated transport indeed takes place. However, the overall GHG budget in terms of CO2 equivalents still resulted in the water hyacinth vegetation being near neutral, or even a net sink with respect to GHG exchange. The plant-induced enhancement of CH4 emissions suggests that the plant can be an effective CO2-to-biomass-to-CH4 converter. Our results show that plant coverage and water depth – regulating sediment-root contact – should be taken into account when estimating water hyacinth’s effect on GHG emissions.

Methane (CH4) strongly contributes to observed global warming. As natural CH4 emissions mainly originate from wet ecosystems, it is important to unravel how climate change may affect these emissions. This is especially true for ebullition (bubble flux from sediments), a pathway that has long been underestimated but generally dominates emissions. Here we show a remarkably strong relationship between CH4 ebullition and temperature across a wide range of freshwater ecosystems on different continents using multi-seasonal CH4 ebullition data from the literature. As these temperature–ebullition relationships may have been affected by seasonal variation in organic matter availability, we also conducted a controlled year-round mesocosm experiment. Here 4 °C warming led to 51% higher total annual CH4 ebullition, while diffusion was not affected. Our combined findings suggest that global warming will strongly enhance freshwater CH4 emissions through a disproportional increase in ebullition (6–20% per 1 °C increase), contributing to global warming., The impacts of climate change on natural methane (CH4) emissions via ebullition are unclear. Here, using published and experimental multi-seasonal CH4 ebullition data, the authors find a strong relationship between CH4 ebullition and temperature across a wide range of freshwater ecosystems globally.

Small water systems are important hotspots of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission, but estimates are poorly constrained as data are scarce. Small ponds are often constructed in urban areas, where they receive large amounts of nutrients and therefore tend to be highly productive. Here, we investigated GHG emissions, seasonal and diel variation, and net ecosystem production (NEP) from an urban pond. In monthly 24‐h field campaigns during 11 months, diffusive water–atmosphere methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes and CH4 ebullition and oxidation were quantified. With oxygen (O2) measurements, NEP was assessed. The pond was a net GHG source the entire year, with an emission of 3.4 kg CO2 eq m−2 yr−1. The dominant GHG emission pathway was CH4 ebullition (bubble flux, 50%), followed by diffusive emissions of CO2 (38%) and CH4 (12%). Sediment CH4 release was primarily driven by temperature and especially ebullition increased exponentially above a temperature threshold of 15°C. The pond's atmospheric CO2 exchange was not related to NEP or temperature but likely to a high allochthonous carbon (C) input via runoff and anaerobic mineralization of C. We expect urban ponds to show a large increase in GHG emission with increasing temperature, which should be considered carefully when constructing ponds in urban areas. Emissions may partly be counteracted by pond management focusing on a reduction of nutrient and organic matter input. publishedVersion

Worldwide the area of free-floating plants is increasing, which can be expected to alter methane (CH4) emissions from aquatic systems in several ways. A large proportion of the CH4 produced may become oxidized below the plants due to the accumulation of CH4 as a result of a decrease in the diffusive water-atmosphere flux and the entrapment of part of the ebullitive CH4, in combination with suitable conditions for methane oxidizing (MOX) bacteria in the aerobic rhizosphere. We used a set of essays to test this hypothesis and to explore the effect of different densities for three widespread free-floating species: Azolla filiculoides, Salvinia natans, and Eichhornia crassipes. The gas exchange velocity, proportion of CH4 bubbles trapped by the plants, occurrence of radial oxygen loss from roots, and MOX rates on the roots were assessed. We subsequently used the outcome of these experiments to parameterize a simple model. With this model we estimated the proportion of the produced CH4 that is oxidized, for different plant species and different densities. We found that in a shallow (1 m) system up to 70% of the CH4 produced may become oxidized as a result of a strong decrease in gas exchange combined with high MOX activity of the rhizosphere microbiome. As floating plants also are likely to increase CH4 production by organic matter production, especially when their presence induces anaerobic conditions, the overall effect on CH4 emission will strongly depend on local conditions. This explains the contrasting effects of floating plants on CH4 emissions in literature as reviewed here. As the effect of floating plants on CH4 emissions, including the high MOX rates we show here, can be substantial, there is an urgent need to consider this impact when assessing greenhouse gas budgets.

Contains fulltext : 195210.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) Abstract Temperatures have been rising throughout recent decades and are predicted to rise further in the coming century. Global warming affects carbon cycling in freshwater ecosystems, which both emit and bury substantial amounts of carbon on a global scale. Currently, most studies focus on the effect of warming on overall carbon emissions from freshwater ecosystems, while net effects on carbon budgets may strongly depend on burial in sediments. Here, we tested whether year-round warming increases the production, sedimentation, or decomposition of particulate organic carbon and eventually alters the carbon burial in a typical shallow freshwater system. We performed an indoor experiment in eight mesocosms dominated by the common submerged aquatic plant Myriophyllum spicatum testing two temperature treatments: a temperate seasonal temperature control and a warmed (+4°C) treatment (n = 4). During a full experimental year, the carbon stock in plant biomass, dissolved organic carbon in the water column, sedimented organic matter, and decomposition of plant detritus were measured. Our results showed that year-round warming nearly doubled the final carbon stock in plant biomass from 6.9 ± 1.1 g C in the control treatment to 12.8 ± 0.6 g C (mean ± SE), mainly due to a prolonged growing season in autumn. DOC concentrations did not differ between the treatments, but organic carbon sedimentation increased by 60% from 96 ± 9.6 to 152 ± 16 g C m?2 yaer?1 (mean ± SE) from control to warm treatments. Enhanced decomposition of plant detritus in the warm treatment, however, compensated for the increased sedimentation. As a result, net carbon burial was 40 ± 5.7 g C m?2 year?1 in both temperature treatments when fluxes were combined into a carbon budget model. These results indicate that warming can increase the turnover of organic carbon in shallow macrophyte-dominated systems, while not necessarily affecting net carbon burial on a system scale.

Although previous studies suggest that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from reservoir sediment exposed to the atmosphere during drought may be substantial, this process has not been rigorously quantified. Here we determined carbon dioxide (CO 2) and methane (CH 4) emissions from sediment cores exposed to a drying and rewetting cycle. We found a strong temporal variation in GHG emissions with peaks when the sediment was drained (C emissions from permanently wet sediment and drained sediments were, respectively, 251 and 1646 mg m −2 d −1 for CO 2 and 0.8 and 547.4 mg m −2 d −1 for CH 4) and then again during rewetting (C emissions from permanently wet sediment and rewetted sediments were, respectively, 456 and 1725mg m −2 d −1 for CO 2 and 1.3 and 3.1 mg m −2 d −1 for CH 4). To gain insight into the importance of these emissions at a regional scale, we used Landsat satellite imagery to upscale our results to all Brazilian reservoirs. We found that during the extreme drought of 2014-2015, an additional 1299 km 2 of sediment was exposed, resulting in an estimated emission of 8.5 × 10 11 g of CO 2-eq during the first 15 d after the overlying water disappeared and in the first 33 d after rewetting, the same order of magnitude as the year-round GHG emissions of large (∼mean surface water area 454 km 2) Brazilian reservoirs, excluding the emissions from the draw-down zone. Our estimate, however, has high uncertainty, with actual emissions likely higher. We therefore argue that the effects of drought on reservoir GHG emissions merits further study, especially because climate models indicate an increase in the frequency of severe droughts in the future. We recommend incorporation of emissions during drying and rewetting into GHG budgets of reservoirs to improve regional GHG emission estimates and to enable comparison between GHG emissions from hydroelectric and other electricity sources. We also emphasize that peak emissions at the onset of drought and the later rewetting should be quantified to obtain reliable emission estimates. ARTICLE HISTORY Corresponding author: R. Mendonca

Climate change is expected to favour infectious diseases across ecosystems worldwide. In freshwater and marine environments, parasites play a crucial role in controlling plankton population dynamics. Infection of phytoplankton populations will cause a transfer of carbon and nutrients into parasites, which may change the type of food available for higher trophic levels. Some phytoplankton species are inedible to zooplankton, and the termination of their population by parasites may liberate otherwise unavailable carbon and nutrients. Phytoplankton spring blooms often consist of large diatoms inedible for zooplankton, but the zoospores of their fungal parasites may serve as a food source for this higher trophic level. Here, we investigated the impact of warming on the fungal infection of a natural phytoplankton spring bloom and followed the response of a zooplankton community. Experiments were performed in ca. 1000 L indoor mesocosms exposed to a controlled seasonal temperature cycle and a warm (+4 °C) treatment in the period from March to June 2014. The spring bloom was dominated by the diatom Synedra. At the peak of infection over 40% of the Synedra population was infected by a fungal parasite (i.e. a chytrid) in both treatments. Warming did not affect the onset of the Synedra bloom, but accelerated its termination. Peak population density of Synedra tended to be lower in the warm treatments. Furthermore, Synedra carbon: phosphorus stoichiometry increased during the bloom, particularly in the control treatments. This indicates enhanced phosphorus limitation in the control treatments, which may have constrained chytrid development. Timing of the rotifer Keratella advanced in the warm treatments and closely followed chytrid infections. The chytrids' zoospores may thus have served as an alternative food source to Keratella. Our study thus emphasizes the importance of incorporating not only nutrient limitation and grazing, but also parasitism in understanding the response of plankton communities towards global warming.

It has been suggested that the overwhelming number of species in tropical ecosystems consist largely of "neutral" and functionally equivalent species. In phytoplankton, differences in functionality have been shown to be clearly distinguishable from morphological traits. Here we examine whether the increase in species towards the tropics goes together with an increase in functional richness or not. We analyse the latitudinal distribution of phytoplankton morphology-based functional groups (MBFG), the within-group richness and community morphological traits in 83 shallow lakes across South America (5-55°S). We further looked into explaining environmental variables. Despite the increment in species richness towards the (sub)tropics, the average number of MBFG remained constant. Furthermore, size average and variance decreased towards warmer regions. In warm lakes, phytoplankton communities were species rich but redundant in terms of belonging to a MBFG. Increasing species richness only translated into increasing number of rare species in some of the MBFG. In contrast, cold lakes were species poor but less redundant (i.e. essential to maintain the number of MBFG) and had a higher morphological variability. Our results support the hypothesis of higher functional redundancy in warmer areas and the relevance of increasing herbivory in colder regions as a main driving process of latitudinal patterns.

Dominance of free-floating plants such as duckweed is undesirable as it indicates eutrophication. The objectives of this study are to investigate whether the onset of duckweed dominance is related to weather conditions by analysing field observations, to evaluate the effect of different climate scenarios on the timing of duckweed dominance using a model and to evaluate to what extent nutrient levels should be lowered to counteract effects of global warming. To analyse the onset of duckweed dominance in relation to weather conditions, duckweed cover in Dutch ditches was correlated with weather conditions for the period 1980-2005. Furthermore, a model was developed that describes biomass development over time as a function of temperature, light and nutrient availability, crowding and mortality. This model was used to evaluate the effects of climate change scenarios and the effects of lowering nutrients. The onset of duckweed dominance in the field advanced by approximately 14 days with an increase of 1 °C in the average maximum daily winter temperature. The modelled biomass development correlated well with the field observations. Scenarios showed that expected climate change will affect onset and duration of duckweed dominance in temperate ditches. Reducing nutrient levels may counteract the effect of warming. Synthesis and applications. Global warming may lead to an increase in the dominance of free-floating plants in drainage ditches in the Netherlands. The expected reductions in nutrient-loading to surface waters as a result of different measures taken so far are likely not sufficient to counteract these effects of warming. Therefore, additional measures should be taken to avoid a further deterioration of the ecological water quality in ditches. © 2013 The Authors. Journal of Applied Ecology © 2013 British Ecological Society.

Even though the suitability of macrophytes to act as a carbon source to food webs has been questioned by some studies, some others indicate that macrophyte-derived carbon may play an important role in the trophic transfer of organic matter in the food web of shallow lakes. To evaluate the importance of macrophytes to food webs, we collected primary producers-macrophytes and periphyton-and consumers from 19 South American shallow lakes and analyzed their carbon stable isotopes composition (d13C). Despite the diversity of inorganic carbon sources available in our study lakes, the macrophytes' d13C signatures showed a clear bimodal distribution: 13C-depleted and 13C-enriched, averaging at -27. 2 and -13. 5‰, respectively. We argue that the use of either CO2 or HCO3 - by the macrophytes largely caused the bimodal pattern in d13C signals. The contribution of carbon from macrophytes to the lake's food webs was not straightforward in most of the lakes because the macrophytes' isotopic composition was quite similar to the isotopic composition of periphyton, phytoplankton, and terrestrial carbon. However, in some lakes where the macrophytes had a distinct isotopic signature, our data suggest that macrophytes can represent an important carbon source to shallow lake food webs. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

Recent studies from temperate lakes indicate that eutrophic systems tend to emit less carbon dioxide (Co-2) and bury more organic carbon (OC) than oligotrophic ones, rendering them CO2 sinks in some cases. However, the scarcity of data from tropical systems is critical for a complete understanding of the interplay between eutrophication and aquatic carbon (C) fluxes in warm waters. We test the hypothesis that a warm eutrophic system is a source of both CO2 and CH4 to the atmosphere, and that atmospheric emissions are larger than the burial of OC in sediments. This hypothesis was based on the following assumptions: (i) OC mineralization rates are high in warm water systems, so that water column CO2 production overrides the high C uptake by primary producers, and (ii) increasing trophic status creates favorable conditions for CH4 production. We measured water-air and sediment-water CO2 fluxes, CH4 diffusion, ebullition and oxidation, net ecosystem production (NEP) and sediment OC burial during the dry season in a eutrophic reservoir in the semiarid northeastern Brazil. The reservoir was stratified during daytime and mixed during nighttime. In spite of the high rates of primary production (4858 +/- 934 mg C m(-2) d(-1)), net heterotrophy was prevalent due to high ecosystem respiration (5209 +/- 992 mg C m(-2) d(-1)). Consequently, the reservoir was a source of atmospheric CO2 (518 +/- 182 mg C m(-2) d(-1)). In addition, the reservoir was a source of ebullitive (17 +/- 10 mg C m(-2) d(-1)) and diffusive CH4 (11 +/- 6 mg C m(-2) d(-1)). OC sedimentation was high (1162 mg C m(-2) d(-1)), but our results suggest that the majority of it is mineralized to CO2 (722 +/- 182 mg C m(-2) d(-1)) rather than buried as OC (440 mg C m(-2) d(-1)). Although temporally resolved data would render our findings more conclusive, our results suggest that despite being a primary production and OC burial hotspot, the tropical eutrophic system studied here was a stronger CO2 and CH4 source than a C sink, mainly because of high rates of OC mineralization in the water column and sediments.

Annual sulfate mass balances have been constructed for four low-lying peat polders in the Netherlands, to resolve the origin of high sulfate concentrations in surface water, which is considered a water quality problem, as indicated amongst others by the absence of sensitive water plant species. Potential limitation of these plants to areas with low sulfate was analyzed with a spatial match-up of two large databases. The peat polders are generally used for dairy farming or nature conservation, and have considerable areas of shallow surface water (mean 16%, range 6-43%). As a consequence of continuous drainage, the peat in these polders mineralizes causing subsidence rates generally ranging between 2 and 10mmy-1. Together with pyrite oxidation, this peat mineralization the most important internal source of sulfate, providing an estimated 96kgSO4ha-1mm-1subsidencey-1. External sources are precipitation and water supplied during summer to compensate for water shortage, but these were found to be minor compared to internal release. The most important output flux is discharge of excess surface water during autumn and winter. If only external fluxes in and out of a polder are evaluated, inputs average 37±9 and exports 169±17kgSha-1y-1. During summer, when evapotranspiration exceeds rainfall, sulfate accumulates in the unsaturated zone, to be flushed away and drained off during the wet autumn and winter. In some polders, upward seepage from early Holocene, brackish sediments can be a source of sulfate. Peat polders export sulfate to the regional water system and the sea during winter drainage. The available sulfate probably only plays a minor role in the oxidation of peat: we estimate that this is less than 10% whereas aerobic mineralization is the most important. Most surface waters in these polders have high sulfate concentrations, which generally decline during the growing season when aquatic sediments are a sink. In the sediment, this sulfur is reduced and binds iron more strongly than phosphorus, which can be released to the overlying water and potentially fuels eutrophication. About 76% of the sampled vegetation-sites exceeded a threshold of 50mgl-1SO4, above which sensitive species, such as Stratiotes aloides, and several species of Potamogeton were significantly less abundant. Thus high sulfate concentrations, mainly due to land drainage and consequent mineralization, appear to affect aquatic plant community composition.

Global warming and eutrophication in fresh and coastal waters may mutually reinforce the symptoms they express and thus the problems they cause.

A series of surface sediments from 82 lakes of variable water depth and size was analyzed for glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (GDGTs) in order to investigate the potential of the MBT/CBT (methylation ratio/cyclization ratio of branched tetraethers) as a continental palaeothermometer in lacustrine environments. Branched GDGTs dominated in most sediments, as indicated by the high branched vs. isoprenoid tetraether (BIT) values. We observed that CBT and MBT varied substantially. Mean annual air temperature (MAAT reconstructed) and pH values were calculated using the CBT and MBT values and the calibration from the global soil data set. The MBT/CBT inferred temperatures were considerably lower than measured values. Nevertheless, there was a significant correlation between MAAT reconstructed and MAAT observed on site, although there was still considerable scatter (r(2) 0.47). Lacustrine sediments integrate organic remains of organisms in a lake and its drainage basin, thereby offering a unique opportunity for calibrating MBT and CBT, as small scale variability is averaged out. Since the source of the branched GDGTs in the lake sediments is ambiguous, it is not clear whether only temperature and pH in the catchment area are the driving factors. Therefore, even in lake sediments with high concentrations of branched GDGTs the straightforward application of MBT/CBT as palaeoproxies may be difficult given the uncertainties regarding their source and origin.

It has been suggested that shallow lakes in warm climates have a higher probability of being turbid, rather than macrophyte dominated, compared with lakes in cooler climates, but little field evidence exists to evaluate this hypothesis. We analyzed data from 782 lake years in different climate zones in North America, South America, and Europe. We tested if systematic differences exist in the relationship between the abundance of submerged macrophytes and environmental factors such as lake depth and nutrient levels. In the pooled dataset the proportion of lakes with substantial submerged macrophyte coverage (430% of the lake area) decreased in a sigmoidal way with increasing total phosphorus (TP) concentration, falling most steeply between 0.05 and 0.2mgL � 1 . Substantial submerged macrophyte coverage was also rare in lakes with total nitrogen (TN) concentrations above 1‐2mgL � 1 , except for lakes with very low TP concentrations where macrophytes remain abundant until higher TN concentrations. The deviance reduction of logistic regression models predicting macrophyte coverage from nutrients and water depth was generally low, and notably lowest in tropical and subtropical regions (Brazil, Uruguay, and Florida), suggesting that macrophyte coverage was strongly influenced by other factors. The maximum TP concentration allowing substantial submerged macrophyte coverage was clearly higher in cold regions with more frost days. This is in agreement with other studies which found a large influence of ice cover duration on shallow lakes’ ecology through partial fish kills that may improve light conditions for submerged macrophytes by cascading effects on periphyton and phytoplankton. Our findings suggest that, in regions where climatic warming is projected to lead to fewer frost days, macrophyte cover will decrease unless the nutrient levels are lowered.

Both nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) can limit primary production in shallow lakes, but it is still debated how the importance of N and P varies in time and space. We sampled 83 shallow lakes along a latitudinal gradient (5 degrees 55 degrees S) in South America and assessed the potential nutrient limitation using different methods including nutrient ratios in sediment, water, and seston, dissolved nutrient concentrations, and occurrence of N-fixing cyanobacteria. We found that local characteristics such as soil type and associated land use in the catchment, hydrology, and also the presence of abundant submerged macrophyte growth influenced N and P limitation. We found neither a consistent variation in nutrient limitation nor indications for a steady change in denitrification along the latitudinal gradient. Contrary to findings in other regions, we did not find a relationship between the occurrence of (N-fixing and non-N-fixing) cyanobacteria and the TN:TP ratio. We found N-fixing cyanobacteria (those with heterocysts) exclusively in lakes with dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) concentrations of100 microg/L, but notably they were also often absent in lakes with low DIN concentrations. We argue that local factors such as land use and hydrology have a stronger influence on which nutrient is limiting than climate. Furthermore, our data show that in a wide range of climates N limitation does not necessarily lead to cyanobacterial dominance.

Although some ecosystem responses to climate change are gradual, many ecosystems react in highly nonlinear ways. They show little response until a threshold or tipping point is reached where even a small perturbation may trigger collapse into a state from which recovery is difficult (1). Increasing evidence shows that the critical climate level for such collapse may be altered by conditions that can be managed locally. These synergies between local stressors and climate change provide potential opportunities for proactive management. Although their clarity and scale make such local approaches more conducive to action than global greenhouse gas management, crises in iconic UNESCO World Heritage sites illustrate that such stewardship is at risk of failing.

Artificial reservoirs likely accumulate more carbon than natural lakes due to their unusually high sedimentation rates. Nevertheless, the actual magnitude of carbon accumulating in reservoirs is poorly known due to a lack of whole-system studies of carbon burial. We determined the organic carbon (OC) burial rate and the total OC stock in the sediments of a tropical hydroelectric reservoir by combining a seismic survey with sediment core sampling. Our data suggest that no sediment accumulation occurs along the margins of the reservoir and that irregular bottom morphology leads to irregular sediment deposition. Such heterogeneous sedimentation resulted in high spatial variation in OC burial—from 0 to 209 g C m−2 y−1. Based on a regression between sediment accumulation and OC burial rates (R 2 = 0.94), and on the mean reservoir sediment accumulation rate (0.51 cm y−1, from the seismic survey), the whole-reservoir OC burial rate was estimated at 42.2 g C m−2 y−1. This rate was equivalent to 70% of the reported carbon emissions from the reservoir surface to the atmosphere and corresponded to a total sediment OC accumulation of 0.62 Tg C since the reservoir was created. The approach we propose here allows an inexpensive and integrative assessment of OC burial in reservoirs by taking into account the high degree of spatial variability and based on a single assessment. Because burial can be assessed shortly after the survey, the approach combining a seismic survey and coring could, if applied on a larger scale, contribute to a more complete estimate of carbon stocks in freshwater systems in a relatively short period of time.

We compared the species richness and abundance of fish, zooplankton and phytoplankton in nine mesotrophic coastal shallow lakes (Northeastern Brazil) with and without the exotic predator cichlid tucunaré or ‘peacock bass’ (Cichla cf. ocellaris). We hypothesized that the introduction of tucunaré would lead to decreased abundance and species diversity of native fish assemblages and cause indirect effects on the abundance and species diversity of the existing communities of zooplankton and phytoplankton and on water transparency. Our hypotheses were only partly confirmed. Although fish richness and diversity were, in fact, drastically lower in the lakes hosting tucunaré, no significant differences were traced in total fish catch per unit of effort, zooplankton and phytoplankton biomass, plankton diversity or the zooplankton:phytoplankton biomass (TZOO:TPHYTO) ratio. However, zooplankton biomass and TZOO:TPHYTO tended to be higher and the phytoplankton biomass lower in lakes with tucunaré. Our analyses therefore suggest that the introduction of tucunaré had marked effect on the fish community structure and diversity in these shallow lakes, but only modest cascading effects on zooplankton and phytoplankton.

Dominance by cyanobacteria hampers human use of lakes and reservoirs worldwide. Previous studies indicate that excessive nutrient loading and warmer conditions promote dominance by cyanobacteria, but evidence from global scale field data has so far been scarce. Our analysis, based on a study of 143 lakes along a latitudinal transect ranging from subarctic Europe to southern South America, shows that although warmer climates do not result in higher overall phytoplankton biomass, the percentage of the total phytoplankton biovolume attributable to cyanobacteria increases steeply with temperature. Our results also reveal that the percent cyanobacteria is greater in lakes with high rates of light absorption. This points to a positive feedback because restriction of light availability is often a consequence of high phytoplankton biovolume, which in turn may be driven by nutrient loading. Our results indicate a synergistic effect of nutrients and climate. The implications are that in a future warmer climate, nutrient concentrations may have to be reduced substantially from present values in many lakes if cyanobacterial dominance is to be controlled.

We explored systematic patterns in predictability of phytoplankton species from 83 lakes over a gradient ranging from subpolar to tropical regions in South America. We estimated the explained variance (proxy of predictability) of the presence and biomass (estimated as biovolume) of species using multiple regressions from commonly measured environmental variables such as nutrient levels, light, mixing depth, temperature, and zooplankton biomass. Both the presence and biomass of species occurring at least in 10 lakes were quite well predicted from the environmental variables, with average values of 35% and 58%, respectively. Predictability was not systematically related to phylogenetic affiliation or particular functional groups as defined by morphology. However, biomass predictability decreased with increasing occurrence, and improved with larger species size (maximum linear dimension). Species that were predictable in terms of biomass (R 2 $ 0.5, p # 0.05) had, on average, a larger volume, and were relatively more frequent in lakes from warmer regions, with high water temperature, low chlorophyll a, low nutrient concentrations, and low total zooplankton biomass. Although we cannot diagnose the mechanisms involved, our finding that the number of predictable species increases towards warmer regions resembles situations where competition for nutrients and grazing are likely to be less severe, and may imply that in a future warmer world phytoplankton will be easier to predict.

A positive feedback between submerged vegetation and water clarity forms the backbone of the alternative state theory in shallow lakes. The water clearing effect of aquatic vegetation may be caused by different physical, chemical, and biological mechanisms and has been studied mainly in temperate lakes. Recent work suggests differences in biotic interactions between (sub)tropical and cooler lakes might result in a less pronounced clearing effect in the (sub)tropics. To assess whether the effect of submerged vegetation changes with climate, we sampled 83 lakes over a gradient ranging from the tundra to the tropics in South America. Judged from a comparison of water clarity inside and outside vegetation beds, the vegetation appeared to have a similar positive effect on the water clarity across all climatic regions studied. However, the local clearing effect of vegetation decreased steeply with the contribution of humic substances to the underwater light attenuation. Looking at turbidity on a whole-lake scale, results were more difficult to interpret. Although lakes with abundant vegetation (>30%) were generally clear, sparsely vegetated lakes differed widely in clarity. Overall, the effect of vegetation on water clarity in our lakes appears to be smaller than that found in various Northern hemisphere studies. This might be explained by differences in fish communities and their relation to vegetation. For instance, unlike in Northern hemisphere studies, we find no clear relation between vegetation coverage and fish abundance or their diet preference. High densities of omnivorous fish and coinciding low grazing pressures on phytoplankton in the (sub)tropics may, furthermore, weaken the effect of vegetation on water clarity.