Environmental feedbacks in temperate aquatic ecosystems under global change: why do we need to consider chemical stressors?

Abstract

Globally increasing temperature and modifications in precipitation patterns induce major environmental alterations in aquatic ecosystems. Particularly profound changes are predicted for arctic to temperate shallow lakes where modifications in temperature affect the distribution of ice and ice-free periods, thereby altering the timing of peak productivity, while changes in precipitation strongly alter water table depth with concomitant modifications in light distribution, temperature, and water chemistry, collectively altering the balance between primary production, organic matter consumption, and decomposition. Due to direct effects of temperature on primary productivity and microbial decomposition, raising temperatures alter the capacity of aquatic ecosystems for carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas release, and this affects atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations and temperature, implying a feedback loop between environmental effects on ecosystems and climate change. Moreover, elevated temperature can modify the bioavailability of pollutants deposited in the past, and increase the probability for their uptake by aquatic organisms. The latter processes in turn reduce primary productivity and alter microbial decomposition, creating thus another key feedback loop between productivity, climate change, and environmental pollutants. However, warming can also enhance eutrophication and deposition of pollutants in organic sediments, further speeding up productivity and eutrophication, with the overall net effects depending on the quantitative significance of different processes. Therefore, the feedbacks arising from pollution stress must be incorporated in models intending to predict the carbon balance of aquatic ecosystems under globally changing environmental conditions. Further work on carbon balance and greenhouse gas release of aquatic ecosystems should focus on quantitative characterization of the feedback loops operative, and on how global change affects these feedback loops.