Climate-driven regime shifts in the biological communities of arctic lakes

doi:10.1073/pnas.0500245102

Climate-driven regime shifts in the biological communities of arctic lakes

^aPaleoecological Environmental Assessment and Research Laboratory, Department of Biology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7L 3N6; ^dDepartment of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2E3; ^fDepartment of Biology and Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, University of Bergen, Allégaten 41, N-5007 Bergen, Norway; ^gEnvironmental Change Research Centre, Department of Geography, University College London, 26 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AP, United Kingdom; ^hPaleoenvironmental Assessment Laboratory, Department of Geology, University of Toronto, 22 Russell Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 3B1; ⁱEnvironmental Change Research Unit, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 65, FIN-00014, Helsinki, Finland; ^jPaleolimnology–Paleoecology Laboratory, Centre d'Études Nordiques, Université Laval, Québec, Canada G1K 7P4; ^kDepartment of Entomology, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, United Kingdom; and ^lFaculty of Biology and Soil, Kazan State University, Kremlyovskaya Str. 18, 420008 Kazan, Russia

Communicated by David W. Schindler, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, January 21, 2005 (received for review October 14, 2004)

Abstract

Fifty-five paleolimnological records from lakes in the circumpolar Arctic reveal widespread species changes and ecological reorganizations in algae and invertebrate communities since approximately anno Domini 1850. The remoteness of these sites, coupled with the ecological characteristics of taxa involved, indicate that changes are primarily driven by climate warming through lengthening of the summer growing season and related limnological changes. The widespread distribution and similar character of these changes indicate that the opportunity to study arctic ecosystems unaffected by human influences may have disappeared.

Footnotes

↵ c To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: smolj{at}biology.queensu.ca.
↵ b J.P.S. and A.P.W. contributed equally to this work.
↵ e Present address: University Centre in Svalbard, Box 156, N-9171 Longyearbyen, Norway.
Author contributions: J.P.S., A.P.W., H.J.B.B., M.S.V.D., V.J.J., A.K., R.P., K.R., S. Sorvari, D.A., S.J.B., M.-A.F., M.H., B.E.K., T.E.L., N.M., L.N., M.N., A.M.P., B.P., R.Q., M.R., E.S.-T., S. Siitonen, N.S., and J.W. performed research; H.J.B.B. analyzed data; and J.P.S., A.P.W., H.J.B.B., M.S.V.D., V.J.J., A.K., R.P., K.M.R., S. Sorvari, D.A., S.J.B., M.-A.F., M.H., B.E.K., T.E.L., N.M., L.N., M.N., A.M.P., B.P., R.Q., M.R., E.S.-T., S. Siitonen, N.S., and J.W. wrote the paper.
Abbreviation: DCCA, detrended canonical correspondence analysis.