World's Largest Lake Research Articles

Borders of Biodiversity: Life at the Edge of the World's Large Lakes

The great lakes of the world represent a global heritage of surface freshwater and aquatic biodiversity. Species lists for 14 of the world's largest lakes reveal that 15% of the global biodiversity (the total number of species) of freshwater fishes, 9% of noninsect freshwater invertebrate biodiversity, and 2% of aquatic insect biodiversity live in this handful of lakes. The vast majority (more than 93%) of species inhabit the shallow, nearshore littoral zone, and 72% are completely restricted to the littoral zone, even though littoral habitats are a small fraction of total lake areas. Most fish species exploit benthic resources, which increases food web complexity. Moreover, littoral zones are both more negatively affected by human activity and less intensively studied than offshore waters. Conservation of the remarkable biodiversity and biotic integrity of large lakes will require better integration of littoral zones into our understanding of lake ecosystem functioning and focused efforts to alleviate human impacts along the shoreline.

Influence of Long-Distance Climate Teleconnection on Seasonality of Water Temperature in the World's Largest Lake - Lake Baikal, Siberia

Large-scale climate change is superimposed on interacting patterns of climate variability that fluctuate on numerous temporal and spatial scales—elements of which, such as seasonal timing, may have important impacts on local and regional ecosystem forcing. Lake Baikal in Siberia is not only the world's largest and most biologically diverse lake, but it has exceptionally strong seasonal structure in ecosystem dynamics that may be dramatically affected by fluctuations in seasonal timing. We applied time-frequency analysis to a near-continuous, 58-year record of water temperature from Lake Baikal to examine how seasonality in the lake has fluctuated over the past half century and to infer underlying mechanisms. On decadal scales, the timing of seasonal onset strongly corresponds with deviation in the zonal wind intensity as described by length of day (LOD); on shorter scales, these temperature patterns shift in concert with the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Importantly, the connection between ENSO and Lake Baikal is gated by the cool and warm periods of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). Large-scale climatic phenomena affecting Siberia are apparent in Lake Baikal surface water temperature data, dynamics resulting from jet stream and storm track variability in central Asia and across the Northern Hemisphere.

Limnological characteristics of Canada's poorly known large lakes

Canada holds several of the world's large lakes (⩾100 km2). Many of these lakes, apart from the largest like the Great Lakes, are almost unknown beyond their location and area. This study documents a recent compilation and analyses of some key limnological features of these lakes: drainage area, lake area, maximum and mean depth, pH, Secchi depth, and total dissolved solids. The analyses showed the relationships among these features and with their primary watershed and ecozone assignments. Lake area and maximum depth were good predictors of some of the other lake variables. Ecozone was generally a better predictor than primary watershed of regional variation in lake variables with lake area or maximum depth as a covariate scaling for lake size. To enable regional impact assessments of cumulative environmental pressures of Canada's large lakes, these predictive regression models provide a stop-gap means for estimating key lake characteristics when data are missing. However, as cumulative pressures increase, Canada needs to increase efforts to undertake limnological inventories and learn more first hand about these poorly known lakes.

Lake Level Coherence Supports Common Driver

Lake Superior, the world's largest lake by surface area (82,400 square kilometers), experienced record low water levels in 2007 [Holden, 2007]. In addition, lakes Michigan and Huron (58,000 and 59,596 square kilometers, respectively), which behave hydraulically as one lake and which began declining in 1997, were at near‐record low levels in 2007 [Sellinger et al., 2008]. The low levels that these three lakes are experiencing have raised concern that the Laurentian Great Lakes are beginning to realize predicted climate change effects [Magnuson et al., 1997].

BENTHIC ALGAL PRODUCTION ACROSS LAKE SIZE GRADIENTS: INTERACTIONS AMONG MORPHOMETRY, NUTRIENTS, AND LIGHT

Attached algae play a minor role in conceptual and empirical models of lake ecosystem function but paradoxically form the energetic base of food webs that support a wide variety of fishes. To explore the apparent mismatch between perceived limits on contributions of periphyton to whole-lake primary production and its importance to consumers, we modeled the contribution of periphyton to whole-ecosystem primary production across lake size, shape, and nutrient gradients. The distribution of available benthic habitat for periphyton is influenced by the ratio of mean depth to maximum depth (DR = z/ z(max)). We modeled total phytoplankton production from water-column nutrient availability, z, and light. Periphyton production was a function of light-saturated photosynthesis (BPmax) and light availability at depth. The model demonstrated that depth ratio (DR) and light attenuation strongly determined the maximum possible contribution of benthic algae to lake production, and the benthic proportion of whole-lake primary production (BPf) declined with increasing nutrients. Shallow lakes (z < or =5 m) were insensitive to DR and were dominated by either benthic or pelagic primary productivity depending on trophic status. Moderately deep oligotrophic lakes had substantial contributions by benthic primary productivity at low depth ratios and when maximum benthic photosynthesis was moderate or high. Extremely large, deep lakes always had low fractional contributions of benthic primary production. An analysis of the world's largest lakes showed that the shapes of natural lakes shift increasingly toward lower depth ratios with increasing depth, maximizing the potential importance of littoral primary production in large-lake food webs. The repeatedly demonstrated importance of periphyton to lake food webs may reflect the combination of low depth ratios and high light penetration characteristic of large, oligotrophic lakes that in turn lead to substantial contributions of periphyton to autochthonous production.

Land use change in Asia and the ecological consequences

AbstractViewed within a historical context, Asia has experienced dramatic land transformations, and currently more than 50% of Asian land area is under agriculture. The consequences of this transformation are manifold. Southeast Asia has the highest deforestation rate of any major tropical region. Many of the world's large rivers and lakes in Asia have been heavily degraded. About 11 of 19 world megacities with more than 10 million inhabitants are in Asia. These land use activities have resulted in substantial negative ecological consequences, including increased anthropogenic CO2 emissions, deteriorated air and water quality, alteration of regional climate, an increase of disease and a loss of biodiversity. Although land use occurs at the local level, it has the potential to cause ecological impact across local, regional and global scales. Reducing the negative environmental impacts of land use change while maintaining economic viability and social acceptability is an major challenge for most developing countries in Asia.

Management of Coastal Areas in the Caspian Sea Region: Environmental Issues and Political Challenges

Enclosed coastal waters are subject to deterioration and eutrophication. Caspian Sea (CS), the world's largest lake, located in western Asia, constitutes the focus of this article. The CS is possibly the world's third largest reservoir of oil and natural gas after the Persian Gulf and Russia. Hence, management of its coastal waters requires extraordinary efforts by all littoral states. Economical rivalries in the CS states have created an atmosphere of uncertainty in the future and commotion. In this article the geography, history, politics, and the environmental issues of the CS are discussed. It is concluded that future success of a sustainable coastal management scheme in this region can only be implemented with full cooperation and understanding between the countries neighboring the CS. Despite all existing differences, it is herewith submitted that sustainable growth and sound environmental plans in the coastal regions of the CS are attainable and will create unique growth opportunities for all countries bordering the CS (Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan) and countries that are located in the CS region (Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan). A sign of such cooperation has already emerged within the Caspian Environmental Programme (CEP), which initiated its activities in 1998 for the protection of the Caspian Sea marine environment and inland zone of 100 km. With the secure future of CEP, it can be a base for future agreements between the Caspian states regarding all aspects of the Caspian region.

Reconstruction of Megalake Chad using Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission data

In the 2,500,000 km 2 Lake Chad Basin in central Africa, the 2000 Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission (SRTM) data have been used to supplement the existing topographic data. SRTM data produce much sharper images of the region's topography and provide new insights into debates about the nature and extent of late Quaternary Lake Chad. This paper shows that the accuracy of SRTM30, the recently released 30 arc seconds topographic data from SRTM, largely surpasses that of previous global Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) available in the region. Using a GIS we identified from SRTM30 elevation data key features in the landscape topography providing further evidence for the existence of a Megalake Chad. The SRTM30 data corroborate the presence of two ancient shorelines associated with stillstands of the paleolake at the elevation of the Mayo Kebbi and Bahr el Ghazal spillovers. We found a general flattening of the topography in the region covered by Megalake Chad which is most likely the result of wave-cut action. The SRTM30 data show that the remains of the highest paleoshoreline have a constant elevation of 325 ± 5 m amsl. At its maximum extent, Megalake Chad had an area of about 340 000 km 2 (only 8% less than the present-day world's largest lake, the Caspian Sea). The SRTM30 data also revealed ancient drainage networks in the Sahara that lead to Megalake Chad. We compiled available 14C dates to constrain Holocene Megalake Chad events. The results presented in this paper have significant consequences for improving our knowledge of regional paleohydrology and continental climate change. This study is also the first step for a GIS-based reconstruction of late Quaternary paleohydrology in tropical Africa.

Spatial variability of the decomposition rate of Schoenoplectus tatora in a polluted area of Lake Titicaca

Lake Titicaca is the largest freshwater lake in South America and one of the highest and oldest of the world's large lakes, but very little of its ecology is known. We report results from a study on the spatial variation of decomposition rate of Schoenoplectus tatora in Inner Puno Bay affected by direct wastewater discharges. The aims of the research were: (1) to evaluate the effect of benthos exclusion and the influence of other environmental factors on decomposition and (2) to map the decomposition rate in order to describe the spatial heterogeneity in the water body. We carried out the study at 21 sampling points using both fine-meshed and coarse-meshed litterbags to exclude and to allow detritivore action, respectively. Decomposition was on the average faster in the former than in the latter treatment. However, the difference decreased with increasing detritivore abundance, and reversed in the most densely populated waters of the bay. Coupled spatial dependence of the decomposition rate and temperature was observed. Both variables were related with the distance from the wastewater discharges, suggesting that thermal pollution constrains the decomposition rate within the inner bay. Detritivores did not change the general trend imposed by temperature, but their presence increased the spatial heterogeneity of the process.

Russian Agriculture in the Transition to a Market Economy

Previous articleNext article No AccessRussian Agriculture in the Transition to a Market Economy*Karen Brooks and Bruce GardnerKaren BrooksWorld Bank Search for more articles by this author and Bruce GardnerUniversity of Maryland Search for more articles by this author World BankUniversity of MarylandPDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Economic Development and Cultural Change Volume 52, Number 3April 2004 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/386534 Views: 50Total views on this site Citations: 13Citations are reported from Crossref © 2004 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.PDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Daria Loginova, Judith Irek Russian meat price transmission and policy interventions in 2014, Agricultural and Food Economics 10, no.11 (Feb 2022).https://doi.org/10.1186/s40100-021-00208-1Daria Loginova, Stefan Mann Institutional contributions to agricultural producer price stability, Agricultural and Food Economics 10, no.11 (Mar 2022).https://doi.org/10.1186/s40100-022-00219-6K A Zhichkin, V V Nosov, L N Zhichkina, G T Allen, V V Kudryavtsev Crops cultivation parameters application in the land misuse assessment, IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science 723, no.33 (Mar 2021): 032021.https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/723/3/032021Nicholas Rada, William Liefert, Olga Liefert Evaluating Agricultural Productivity and Policy in Russia, Journal of Agricultural Economics 71, no.11 (Jun 2019): 96–117.https://doi.org/10.1111/1477-9552.12338Gabriel Fink, Joseph Alcamo, Martina Flörke, Klara Reder Phosphorus Loadings to the World's Largest Lakes: Sources and Trends, Global Biogeochemical Cycles 32, no.44 (Apr 2018): 617–634.https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GB005858Tobias Kuemmerle, Jed O. Kaplan, Alexander V. Prishchepov, Ilya Rylsky, Oleh Chaskovskyy, Vladimir S. Tikunov, Daniel Müller Forest transitions in Eastern Europe and their effects on carbon budgets, Global Change Biology 21, no.88 (May 2015): 3049–3061.https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.12897Camilo Alcantara, Tobias Kuemmerle, Matthias Baumann, Eugenia V Bragina, Patrick Griffiths, Patrick Hostert, Jan Knorn, Daniel Müller, Alexander V Prishchepov, Florian Schierhorn, Anika Sieber, Volker C Radeloff Mapping the extent of abandoned farmland in Central and Eastern Europe using MODIS time series satellite data, Environmental Research Letters 8, no.33 (Sep 2013): 035035.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/8/3/035035Anika Sieber, Tobias Kuemmerle, Alexander V. Prishchepov, Kelly J. Wendland, Matthias Baumann, Volker C. Radeloff, Leonid M. Baskin, Patrick Hostert Landsat-based mapping of post-Soviet land-use change to assess the effectiveness of the Oksky and Mordovsky protected areas in European Russia, Remote Sensing of Environment 133 (Jun 2013): 38–51.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2013.01.021Raushan Bokusheva, Heinrich Hockmann, Subal C. Kumbhakar Dynamics of productivity and technical efficiency in Russian agriculture, European Review of Agricultural Economics 39, no.44 (Nov 2011): 611–637.https://doi.org/10.1093/erae/jbr059William M. Liefert, Olga Liefert Russian Agriculture during Transition: Performance, Global Impact, and Outlook, Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy 34, no.11 (Jan 2012): 37–75.https://doi.org/10.1093/aepp/ppr046Raushan Bokusheva, Irina Bezlepkina, Alfons Oude Lansink Exploring Farm Investment Behaviour in Transition: The Case of Russian Agriculture, Journal of Agricultural Economics 60, no.22 (Jun 2009): 436–464.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1477-9552.2009.00200.xRaushan Bokusheva, Vladislav Valentinov, Viktoriya Anpilogova The Investment Behaviour of Russian Farms, Post-Communist Economies 19, no.11 (Mar 2007): 53–71.https://doi.org/10.1080/14631370601163194Raushan Bokusheva, Heinrich Hockmann Production risk and technical inefficiency in Russian agriculture, European Review of Agricultural Economics 33, no.11 (Mar 2006): 93–118.https://doi.org/10.1093/erae/jbi036

The regulation of phytoplankton population dynamics in the world's largest lakes

The world's largest lakes, really inland seas, are characterised by long retention times, and are dominated by internal physical forcing, generally low nutrient loadings and predominantly internal recycling. Most are oligotrophic. Many are severely phosphorus deficient. Certainly few ever support large crops of phytoplankton. Horizontal heterogeneity sometimes permits enhanced production in shallow bays or behind thermal bars and occasional blooms develop under conditions of near-surface stratification.An assessment of published information on the composition and seasonality of phytoplankton in the open water habitats of these lakes confirms the oligotrophic nature of the world's great lakes. There is a predominance of diatoms at all latitudes; chrysophytes are seasonally prominent in some lakes at high latitude; other flagellates, including dinoflagellates, and species of cyanobacteria represent increasing proportions of the pelagic biomass towards the equator. There is an indication that species composition is influenced by underwater light availability and a positive correlation between Microcystis plankton and relatively higher concentrations of total phosphorus (TP>30μgl−1) is suggested. Picoplankton is apparently abundant during periods of relatively high insolation of the water column. Although the carrying capacity of the nutrients available is scarcely large, the production of biomass is strongly related to seasonal variability in the intensity and extent of water-column mixing and its relation to the periodicity and underwater penetration of photosynthetically active radiation. Attainment of nutrient-limited crops generally coincides with shallow mixing whereas deep circulation suppresses production.The differential effects of latitude, local climate and salinity upon this general deduction are also evaluated. The role of grazing, its contribution to nutrient recycling, and its contribution to sustaining pelagic food webs, is also considered. The paper makes some deductions about the threats placed on large-lake ecosystems by pollution, eutrophication and acidification and upon how their ecosystem health might be monitored and conserved in the future.

Oligochaeta of Lake Taimyr: a preliminary survey

Lake Taimyr in Siberia is northernmost among the world's large lakes: 73°40′–75°20′N, 99–106°E. The lake area is up to 4650 km2 in summer, with a maximum depth of 26 m and a mean depth of only 2.8 m. The ice-free period lasts about three months. The water level sinks 5.5–6 m during winter, so that 85% of the bottom surface is frozen into ice for some time and subjected to negative temperatures, probably down to −20 °C. In artificially melted sediment samples, 75–92% of animals survived. The average summer biomass of zoobenthos is about 1 g m−2 wet weight, a half of this being formed by Oligochaeta. Altogether 76 samples with 3742 oligochaete specimens collected by V. N. Greze in 1943–1944 were studied. At least 14 taxa of Tubificidae, Lumbriculidae, and Enchytraeidae were found in the lake, and some more enchytraeids in an adjacent river. Many immature animals could not be identified to species. Naididae were completely lacking probably due to the absence of macrovegetation. The shallow freezing zone is inhabited mostly by Alexandrovia ringulata. The profundal fauna is dominated by Lamprodrilus isoporus, Stylodrilus sp., and Isochaetides sp.

Fall and rise of the world's largest lake

Fall and rise of the world's largest lake

Base hydrolysis of .alpha.- and .gamma.-hexachlorocyclohexanes

Hexachlorocycloheranes (HCHs) are the most abundant organochlorine pesticides in the world's oceans and large lakes, and knowing their chemical reactivity is important for determining environmental fate. Hydrolysis of α- and γ-HCHs was carried out in buffered distilled water poisoned with sodium azide in dark, tightly sealed bottles to avoid biodegradation, photolysis, and volatilization losses. Experiments were run at (9) constant temperature (45 o C) and pH 7-9 and (b) constant pH (9) and 5-45 o C over times of 4-248 d, depending on reaction conditions. At constant pH, breakdonvn of the HCHs followed pseudofirst-order kinetics

Large Lakes of China

China contains 28 of the world's large lakes (> 500 km 2). Information on these lakes is considerably limited. This paper describes in greater detail the origin, location, and the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of the Chinese lakes and discusses the prevalant lake fish management methods in China. Elements which have influenced changes in Chinese large lakes are discussed. Climatic condition and tectonic uplift have strongly influenced the large lakes in the Tibet-Qinghai-Sinkiang region while sediment loading and human impacts continue to be the major concern for the large lakes in the Pacific basin.

Large Lakes of the World

An inventory of the distribution, origin, and morphometry of the world's large lakes has been undertaken. Natural lakes, fresh and salt, with a surface area greater than 500 km 2 are included; 253 such lakes have been identified. Large lakes occur on all continents, except Antarctica, but nearly half of them (48 percent) are found in North America and most of these lie above the 40th parallel, attesting to the scouring action of continental glaciers. Tectonic belts, such as the Riff Valley of east Africa and the Lake Baikal region of Siberia, are the second most common loci of large lakes. Tabular morphometric data include: surface area, drainage basin, elevation, mean and maximum depth, volume, length and breadth, and orientation of longest axis. These data show that the large lakes of the world occupy a surface area of 1,456,000 km 2 and they have an estimated volume of 202,000 km 3. Large lakes account for approximately 90 percent of the total surface area and volume of water held in all lakes of the world. Revisions and supplements to the data presented are welcomed.

The Great Bear Lake: Its Place in History

Great Bear Lake is one of the most prominent geographic features of northern Canada. Shaped like the missing piece of a jigsaw puzzle, with five arms radiating from a central body, it has a total area of 31,150 square kilometres - approximately the same as that of the Netherlands. It is the eighth largest, and by far the most northern, of the world's major lakes, and probably the least productive. [This article provides a synopsis of the prehistory, ethnography of the region, and modern history, i.e. early exploration of the area in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The article concludes with the hope that Great Bear Lake continues to escape] ... the fate of many of the world's large lakes; [that] its waters [remain] unpolluted and the fish stocks, ... in much the same condition as when Franklin arrived 150 years ago. [The author notes that there are] ... changes in the offing: oil exploration is in progress in the basin, and oil and gas pipelines are projected for the Mackenzie Valley less than 50 miles (80 km) away. To meet the demand for electric power, the possibility is being examined of turning Great Bear Lake into a tremendous reservoir to provide the power for a generating station on the Great Bear River. It is fervently to be hoped that the lake, its river and the surrounding land, holding as they do a great place in the history of the Canadian North, will not be adversely affected if such a development occurs. Maintenance, in particular, of the high degree of clearness and purity of the waters of the lake depends upon the most careful treatment of the surrounding land surfaces.