PARENT SESSION
Symposium 1: In the Footsteps of Lewis and Clark: Rediscovering Earth From Land to Sea - A Biogeoscience Perspective.
Organized by: PV Sundareshwar and J Elser
Monday, August 2, 8:00 AM to 11:30 AM, Oregon Ballroom 202.
The role of climate in the coupling of the cycles of phosphorus, nitrogen, carbon and silica in lakes and their catchments.
Schindler, David1, 1 University of Alberta-Edmonton, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
ABSTRACT- Studies in central and western Canada reveal that climate has important effects on the interactions of biogeochemical cycles of several elements. Climate warming affects different elements via different pathways, including increased flushing times for lakes, decreased dilution of point sources of nutrients; decreased delivery of nutrients from non-point sources to lakes; decreased inputs of dissolved organic carbon and silica as the result of decreased decomposition and weathering in catchment soils; increased thermocline depth and decreased frequency of transient thermoclines in smaller lakes; earlier seasonal replacement of diatoms by Cyanobacteria as the result of lower silica concentrations, and changes to trophic cascades and nutrient stoichiometry as the result of changes to food webs. These changes are generally expected to enhance eutrophication and increase the complexity of solving the eutrophication problem.
Key words: climate, eutrophication, biogeochemistry, freshwater