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Landscape influences on climate-related lake shrinkage at high latitudes
- Source :
- Global change biology. 19(7)
- Publication Year :
- 2013
-
Abstract
- Climate-related declines in lake area have been identified across circumpolar regions and have been characterized by substantial spatial heterogeneity. An improved understanding of the mechanisms underlying lake area trends is necessary to predict where change is most likely to occur and to identify implications for high latitude reservoirs of carbon. Here, using a population of ca. 2300 lakes with statistically significant increasing and decreasing lake area trends spanning longitudinal and latitudinal gradients of ca. 1000 km in Alaska, we present evidence for a mechanism of lake area decline that involves the loss of surface water to groundwater systems. We show that lakes with significant declines in lake area were more likely to be located: (1) in burned areas; (2) on coarser, well-drained soils; and (3) farther from rivers compared to lakes that were increasing. These results indicate that postfire processes such as permafrost degradation, which also results from a warming climate, may promote lake drainage, particularly in coarse-textured soils and farther from rivers where overland flooding is less likely and downslope flow paths and negative hydraulic gradients between surface water and groundwater systems are more common. Movement of surface water to groundwater systems may lead to a deepening of subsurface flow paths and longer hydraulic residence time which has been linked to increased soil respiration and CO2 release to the atmosphere. By quantifying relationships between statewide coarse resolution maps of landscape characteristics and spatially heterogeneous responses of lakes to environmental change, we provide a means to identify at-risk lakes and landscapes and plan for a changing climate.
- Subjects :
- Hydrology
Global and Planetary Change
education.field_of_study
Ecology
Altitude
Climate Change
Population
Climate change
Talik
Permafrost
Spatial heterogeneity
Lakes
Logistic Models
parasitic diseases
Water Movements
Environmental Chemistry
Environmental science
Subsurface flow
education
Surface water
Groundwater
Alaska
General Environmental Science
Environmental Monitoring
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 13541013
- Volume :
- 19
- Issue :
- 7
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Global change biology
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....6e46ed3e278982a2b80a12e1965e973a