Potential Influence of Climate Change on the Acid-Sensitivity of High-Elevation Lakes in the Georgia Basin, British Columbia

Abstract

Global climate models predict increased temperature and precipitation in the Georgia Basin, British Colmbia; however, little is known about the impacts on high-elevation regions. In the current study, fifty-four high-elevation lakes (754–2005 m a.s.l.) were studied to investigate the potential influence of climate change on surface water acid-sensitivity. Redundancy analysis indicated that the concentration of nitrate, dissolved organic carbon, and associated metals was significantly influenced by climate parameters. Furthermore, these components differed significantly between biogeoclimatic zones. Modelled soil base cation weathering for a subset of the study lakes(n=11)was predicted to increase by 9% per 1°C increase in temperature. Changes in temperature and precipitation may potentially decrease the pH of surface waters owing to changes in anthropogenic deposition and organic acid production. In contrast, increased soil base cation weathering may increase the critical load (of acidity) of high-elevation lakes. Ultimately, the determining factor will be whether enhanced base cation weathering is sufficient to buffer changes in natural and anthropogenic acidity. Mountain and high-elevation regions are considered early warning systems to climate change; as such, future monitoring is imperative to assess the potential ramifications of climate change on the hydrochemistry and acid-sensitivity of these surface waters.

Acidification and Climate Linkages to Increased Dissolved Organic Carbon in High‐Elevation Lakes

“…Disentangling the drivers of recent increases in freshwater DOC concentrations is difficult due to the confounding signals of climate change and recovery from acidification (Strang & Aherne, 2015). Several studies indicate that increasing DOC concentrations across the U.S. and northern Europe are driven by recovery from acidification (Evans et al, 2006;Monteith et al, 2007;SanClements et al, 2012;Sanclements et al, 2018;Sawicka et al, 2017).…”

“…High-elevation mountain lakes have been described as regional and global sentinels that can act as early warning systems to environmental change (Battarbee et al, 2002;Strang & Aherne, 2015). Prior to industrially induced atmospheric deposition and rapid climate change, freshwaters at high elevations were considered ''pristine'' (Kahl, 1998).…”

“…The impacts of atmospheric deposition and climate variability in North America's high‐elevation lakes have been studied in Colorado, California, and British Columbia, Canada, where high elevation, headwater catchments are more likely to have sparse vegetation and represent true alpine ecosystems (Parker et al, ; Sadro & Melack, ; Strang & Aherne, ; Turk & Adams, ). There are few studies in the northeastern U.S. that isolate high‐elevation lakes for biogeochemical research.…”

Effects of drought-induced stress on nematode communities in aquatic and terrestrial habitats of the Nebraska Sandhills

“…Specifically, as global change events (e.g., fire and drought) intensify over time, simultaneous shifts in assembly processes related to shifts in abiotic conditions have been observed. For example, as a result of drought and decreased precipitation, pH in bodies of water, sediments, and soils moved from neutral to more acidic/alkaline (Godbold and Calosi, 2013;Strang and Aherne, 2015;Jiao et al, 2016;Houle et al, 2020), and in response microbial diversity and functionality decreased (Wang et al, 2014;Tan et al, 2020;Jia et al, 2022). In addition to shifts in diversity, temporal variation in pH can also modify bacterial inter-and intraspecific interactions (Ratzke and Gore, 2018).…”