Canadian biologists from Queen’s University in Ontario have discovered that sharp climate warming in the 21st century has caused unprecedented changes in the ecology of Great Slave Lake, the deepest lake in North America located in the Canadian Arctic. To work published In the scientific journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (RSPB).
Experts analyzed lake sediments and concluded that the composition of algal communities in the lake has completely changed due to the decrease in ice cover and other climatic factors. These changes mark the beginning of a new ecological regime, as algae form the basis of the aquatic food chain.
Such large-scale changes would have as yet unknown consequences for the functioning of fisheries and aquatic ecosystems, affecting the lives of indigenous peoples and other northern communities in Canada, the scientists said.
According to biologists, the study results show that global warming is beginning to affect the largest and deepest of the Arctic lakes, which until recently were considered the most resilient to the effects of the climate crisis. The environmental consequences of these changes have not yet been evaluated.
Previous scientists in the name Stopping the depletion of marine plankton due to global warming.