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journal article Jul 25, 2003

Ecological Consequences of a Century of Warming in Lake Tanganyika

Piet Verburg Robert E. Hecky Hedy Kling
Science Vol. 301 No. 5632 pp. 505-507 · American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
View at Publisher Save 10.1126/science.1084846
Abstract
Deep tropical lakes are excellent climate monitors because annual mixing is shallow and flushing rates are low, allowing heat to accumulate during climatic warming. We describe effects of warming on Lake Tanganyika: A sharpened density gradient has slowed vertical mixing and reduced primary production. Increased warming rates during the coming century may continue to slow mixing and further reduce productivity in Lake Tanganyika and other deep tropical lakes.
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References
27
[3]
Temperature data for 1913 are from L. Stappers Mission Stappers 1911–1913 Exploration Hydrographique et Biologique des Lacs Tanganika et Moero (Répertoire général des Echantillons d'Histoire Naturelle Recueillis Vromant Brussels 1913).
[5]
Temperature data for 1947 are from A. Capart, Le Milieu Géographique et Géophysique. Résultats Scientifique de l'Exploration Hydrobiologique du Lac Tanganika (Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique, Brussels, 1952), vol. 1, pp. 3–27.
[6]
Temperature data for 1973 are from H. Craig, F. Dixon, V. Craig, J. Edmond, G. Coulter, Lake Tanganyika Geochemical and Hydrographic Study: 1973 Expedition (Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA, 1974), pp. 1–83.
[8]
Materials and methods are available as supporting material on Science Online.
[10]
G. E. Hutchinson A Treatise on Limnology (Wiley New York 1957).
[11]
These data are from a meteofile from Bujumbura Airport. The meteofile can be obtained from the Institut Géographique du Burundi Forecast Unit Post Office Box 331 Bujumbura Burundi.
[13]
R. E. Hecky, in Lake Tanganyika and Its Life, G. W. Coulter, Ed. (Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford, 1991), pp. 90–110.
[15]
J. Kufferath, Le Milieu Biochimique. Résultats Scientifique de l'Exploration Hydrobiologique du Lac Tanganika (Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique, Brussels, 1952), vol. 1, pp. 31–47.
[16]
P. D. Plisnier FAO Tech. Rep. GCP/RAF/271/FIN-TD/56 [Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Rome Italy 1996].
[18]
L. Van Meel Le Phytoplancton Résultats Scientifique de l'Exploration Hydrobiologique du Lac Tanganika (Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique Brussels 1954) vol. 4.
[19]
The mean was 9.5 ± 4.6 μM from 1938 to 1975 ( n = 20). The mean was 27.3 ± 1.7 μM in 2000 (July to September) to 2001 (March to April) ( n = 19 P < 0.0001). Both data sets contained data for the stratified as well as the mixing season and there was no overlap between the ranges in dissolved silica. Lakewide dissolved silica at 0- to 25-m depth was also significantly higher in 2000 to 2001 compared with 1975 ( P < 0.0001) ( 8 ).
[25]
R. J. Davies-Colley W. N. Vant D. G. Smith Colour and Clarity of Natural Waters: Science and Management of Optical Water Quality (Ellis Horwood London 1993).
[26]
M. K. Vollmer, R. F. Weiss, H. A. Bootsma, in The East African Great Lakes: Limnology, Palaeolimnology and Biodiversity, E. O. Odada, D. O. Olago, Eds. (Kluwer, Dordrecht, Netherlands, 2002), pp. 209–233.
[27]
We thank the personnel of the Fisheries Departments of Burundi Democratic Republic of Congo Tanzania and Zambia for assistance with sampling and the Tanzanian Fisheries Research Institute for use of the conductivity temperature depth profiler in 2000. Data from 1994 to 1997 were from research conducted by FAO Project GCP/RAF/271/FIN. We thank W. D. Taylor L. W. Hamoen and H. M. Jonkers for comments; Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology for a research permit in 2000 to 2001 (P.V.); and the Museum for Comparative Zoology at Harvard for the supply of a copy of ( 3 ). A Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council grant to R.E.H. supported this research.
Metrics
304
Citations
27
References
Details
Published
Jul 25, 2003
Vol/Issue
301(5632)
Pages
505-507
Authors
P
Piet Verburg

Department of Biology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada. Algal Taxonomy and Ecology, c/o Freshwater Institute, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N6, Canada.

R
Robert E. Hecky

Department of Biology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada. Algal Taxonomy and Ecology, c/o Freshwater Institute, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N6, Canada.

H
Hedy Kling

Department of Biology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada. Algal Taxonomy and Ecology, c/o Freshwater Institute, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N6, Canada.

Cite This Article
Piet Verburg, Robert E. Hecky, Hedy Kling (2003). Ecological Consequences of a Century of Warming in Lake Tanganyika. Science, 301(5632), 505-507. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1084846
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