An exploration of the direct and indirect effects of climatic warming

Arctic lakes support trophic interactions, biological processes, and critical habitat at all trophic levels; however, climatic warming threatens to alter the structure and function of aquatic communities and overall system production. Arctic ecosystems are warming at some of the fastest rates observed on Earth, and arctic lakes are experiencing more frequent years of warmer surface water and deeper mixing. However, the ability to detect and quantify ecosystem effects and specific biological responses (for example, bacterial diversity, invertebrate production, and fish growth) to these climatic changes has been primarily limited to nonmechanistic modeled scenarios and observational studies in uncontrolled environments. By providing some of the first empirical evidence of how fundamental processes will actually change in the face of climate change, this research can also improve understanding of ecosystem service sustainability (for example, subsistence fisheries). The project is a collaboration of researchers across multiple entities including the USGS, Oregon State University, and the Marine Biological Lab in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.