University of Vermont Leads NSF Funded Study on Extreme Weather Events

As the power of extreme weather events increase with climate change, a team of scientists warn that lakes around the world may dramatically change, threatening ecosystem health and water quality. And the international team reports that our limited understanding of how lakes—especially algae at the base of food webs—may respond to more-extreme storms represents a knowledge gap that increases the risk.

The team of 39 scientists from 20 countries on four continents investigated what is currently known about how lake ecosystems respond to extreme storm events. The scientists found they cannot confidently predict how lakes will respond to the more frequent and intense storms that are expected in a warming world.

The new study focused on phytoplankton—microscopic plants commonly known as algae. “Phytoplankton are of particular concern because they are the base of the food web,” said Stockwell, “and a critical driver of water quality.”

The new study, “Storm Impacts on Phytoplankton Community Dynamics in Lakes,” was published in the journal Global Change Biology on 5 March.

“We must quickly learn more—so we can better respond to the very real and pressing threat of climate change on lakes around the world. Without healthy lakes, we are sunk.” Jason Stockwell, Director of UVM's Rubenstein Ecosystem Science Laboratory and a member of a program looking at resiliency to extreme events in the Lake Champlain Basin through VT EPSCoR

“If extreme weather events significantly change carbon, nutrient, or energy cycling in lakes, we better figure it out quickly because lakes can flip, like a lightbulb, from one healthy state to an unhealthy one—and it can be hard or impossible to flip them back again.” Jason Stockwell

Read the full story from the University of Vermont here.