Changing nutrient cycling in Lake Baikal, the world's oldest lake.

Swann GEA; Panizzo VN; Piccolroaz S; Pashley V; Horstwood MSA; Roberts S; Vologina E; Piotrowska N; Sturm M; Zhdanov A; Granin N; Norman C; McGowan S; Mackay AW

doi:10.1073/pnas.2013181117

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Journal article

Changing nutrient cycling in Lake Baikal, the world's oldest lake.

Swann GEA School of Geography, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, United Kingdom; george.swann@nottingham.ac.uk virginia.panizzo@nottingham.ac.uk.
Panizzo VN School of Geography, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, United Kingdom; george.swann@nottingham.ac.uk virginia.panizzo@nottingham.ac.uk.
Piccolroaz S Physics of Aquatic Systems Laboratory, School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
Pashley V Geochronology and Tracers Facility, British Geological Survey, Nottingham NG12 5GG, United Kingdom.
Horstwood MSA Geochronology and Tracers Facility, British Geological Survey, Nottingham NG12 5GG, United Kingdom.
Roberts S Canada Centre for Inland Waters, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Burlington, ON L7S 1A1, Canada.
Vologina E Institute of Earth's Crust, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, 664033 Irkutsk, Russia.
Piotrowska N Division of Geochronology and Environmental Isotopes, Institute of Physics-Centre for Science and Education, Silesian University of Technology, 44-100 Gliwice, Poland.
Sturm M Eidgenössische Anstalt für Wasserversorgung, Abwasserreinigung und Gewässerschutz-Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland.
Zhdanov A Limnology Institute, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, 6644033 Irkutsk, Russia.
Granin N Limnology Institute, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, 6644033 Irkutsk, Russia.
Norman C School of Geography, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, United Kingdom.
McGowan S School of Geography, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, United Kingdom.
Mackay AW Environmental Change Research Centre, Department of Geography, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom.

2020-10-20

Published in:

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. - 2020

English Lake Baikal, lying in a rift zone in southeastern Siberia, is the world's oldest, deepest, and most voluminous lake that began to form over 30 million years ago. Cited as the "most outstanding example of a freshwater ecosystem" and designated a World Heritage Site in 1996 due to its high level of endemicity, the lake and its ecosystem have become increasingly threatened by both climate change and anthropogenic disturbance. Here, we present a record of nutrient cycling in the lake, derived from the silicon isotope composition of diatoms, which dominate aquatic primary productivity. Using historical records from the region, we assess the extent to which natural and anthropogenic factors have altered biogeochemical cycling in the lake over the last 2,000 y. We show that rates of nutrient supply from deep waters to the photic zone have dramatically increased since the mid-19th century in response to changing wind dynamics, reduced ice cover, and their associated impact on limnological processes in the lake. With stressors linked to untreated sewage and catchment development also now impacting the near-shore region of Lake Baikal, the resilience of the lake's highly endemic ecosystem to ongoing and future disturbance is increasingly uncertain.

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