Dr. Nikolai FribergNational Environmental Research Institute (NERI),Aarhus University, Silkeborg, Denmark http://www.dmu.dk/International/News/Archive/2009/friberg.htm |
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Impact of climate change on freshwater ecosystems |
| Rivers, lakes and wetlands will undergo significant changes in the future, at both the European and global scale, as a direct response to the predicted changes in climate. Already today, recent changes in climate have had impact on run-off patterns of rivers and increased the temperature of freshwater ecosystems. Based on our research, we can predict that these changes will have implications for loss of nutrients and toxic compounds, carbon flux to the atmosphere and sensitivity of freshwater ecosys-tems. Increased winter discharge in the Northern part of Europe will increase the loss of nutrients due surface run-off and erosion processes, and extreme precipitation events will increase the risk of loss of e.g. pesticides to the aquatic environment. Internal loading of phosphorous in lakes will increase with increasing temperature, thereby increasing the risk of eutrophication. Moreover, temperature will change the biological structure of lakes, making them overall more sensitive to nutrients. Fresh-water ecosystems are furthermore likely to be a source of CO2 and greenhouse gasses with increasing temperature. All these impacts, together with direct effects of desiccation and flood induced habitat degradation, will degrade European freshwater ecosystems substantially if we do not adopt sustain-able adaptation strategies that can counteract these negative impacts. |
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Ort |
| 01.07.2010 15:00 Uhr Großer Hörsaal |
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