Predicting and monitoring climate impacts on Arctic lake productivity

Arctic regions are subject to pronounced warming, with expected major impacts on the numerous lake ecosystems and the services they provide.

Recent research stress that responses of Arctic lakes to a warming climate are different from expectations based on conventional knowledge. Thus, stakeholders lack adequate tools for sustainable management of Arctic lakes.

This project aims to fundamentally advance the understanding, predictability, and monitoring of climate impacts on Arctic lake productivity.

Specific objectives include to a) assess direct (on lakes) and indirect (via changes on land) climate impacts on key abiotic and biotic processes in lakes, and how these impacts vary across landscape settings and lake types, b) develop models for scaling and predicting lake productivity across Arctic landscapes and climate conditions, c) identify conditions where lake ecosystems are at risk of experiencing major shifts in productivity with climate change, and d) generate monitoring methods and guidelines for management of Arctic lakes in a changing climate.

The project will address project objectives by field studies and process-based modeling of lakes in Arctic-Alpine Sweden, and field test of methods and development of guidelines in collaboration with County administrative boards responsible for monitoring and management Arctic lakes in N. Sweden.