Nature. 2021 Jun;594(7861):66-70. doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03550-y. | PubMed

Stephen F Jane^1,2, Gretchen J A Hansen³, Benjamin M Kraemer⁴, Peter R Leavitt^5,6, Joshua L Mincer¹, Rebecca L North⁷, Rachel M Pilla⁸, Jonathan T Stetler¹, Craig E Williamson⁸, R Iestyn Woolway^9,10, Lauri Arvola¹¹, Sudeep Chandra¹², Curtis L DeGasperi¹³, Laura Diemer¹⁴, Julita Dunalska^15,16, Oxana Erina¹⁷, Giovanna Flaim¹⁸, Hans-Peter Grossart^19,20, K David Hambright²¹, Catherine Hein²², Josef Hejzlar²³, Lorraine L Janus²⁴, Jean-Philippe Jenny²⁵, John R Jones⁷, Lesley B Knoll²⁶, Barbara Leoni²⁷, Eleanor Mackay²⁸, Shin-Ichiro S Matsuzaki²⁹, Chris McBride³⁰, Dörthe C Müller-Navarra³¹, Andrew M Paterson³², Don Pierson², Michela Rogora³³, James A Rusak³², Steven Sadro³⁴, Emilie Saulnier-Talbot³⁵, Martin Schmid³⁶, Ruben Sommaruga³⁷, Wim Thiery^38,39, Piet Verburg⁴⁰, Kathleen C Weathers⁴¹, Gesa A Weyhenmeyer², Kiyoko Yokota⁴², Kevin C Rose⁴³

1. Department of Biological Sciences, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, USA.
2. Department of Ecology and Genetics/Limnology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
3. Department of Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology, University of Minnesota, St Paul, MN, USA.
4. Department of Ecosystem Research, IGB Leibniz Institute for Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Berlin, Germany.
5. Institute of Environmental Change and Society, University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.
6. Institute for Global Food Security, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, County Antrim, UK.
7. School of Natural Resources, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA.
8. Department of Biology, Miami University, Oxford, OH, USA.
9. Centre for Freshwater and Environmental Studies, Dundalk Institute of Technology, Dundalk, Ireland.
10. European Space Agency Climate Office, ECSAT, Harwell Campus, Didcot, Oxfordshire, UK.
11. Lammi Biological Station, University of Helsinki, Lammi, Finland.
12. Department of Biology, Global Water Center, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA.
13. King County Water and Land Resources Division, Seattle, WA, USA.
14. FB Environmental Associates, Portsmouth, NH, USA.
15. Department of Water Protection Engineering and Environmental Microbiology, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Olsztyn, Poland.
16. Institute of Geography, University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland.
17. Department of Hydrology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia.
18. Department of Sustainable Agro-ecosystems and Bioresources, Research and Innovation Centre, Fondazione Edmund Mach, San Michele all'Adige, Italy.
19. Department of Experimental Limnology, Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Stechlin, Germany.
20. Institute of Biochemistry and Biology, Potsdam University, Potsdam, Germany.
21. Plankton Ecology and Limnology Laboratory, Geographical Ecology Group, and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Department of Biology, The University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA.
22. Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Madison, WI, USA.
23. Institute of Hydrobiology, Biology Centre CAS, České Budějovice, Czech Republic.
24. Bureau of Water Supply, New York City Department of Environmental Protection, Valhalla, NY, USA.
25. CARRTEL Limnology Center, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Université Savoie Mont Blanc, Chambéry, France.
26. Itasca Biological Station and Laboratories, University of Minnesota, Lake Itasca, MN, USA.
27. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Milan-Bicocca, Milan, Italy.
28. Lake Ecosystems Group, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Lancaster, UK.
29. Biodiversity Division, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Ibaraki, Japan.
30. Environmental Research Institute, Hamilton, New Zealand.
31. Department of Biology, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.
32. Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, Dorset Environmental Science Centre, Dorset, ON, Canada.
33. CNR Water Research Institute (IRSA), Verbania Pallanza, Italy.
34. Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, CA, USA.
35. Departments of Biology and Geography, Université Laval, Québec, Canada.
36. Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Surface Waters - Research and Management, Kastanienbaum, Switzerland.
37. Department of Ecology, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
38. Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Department of Hydrology and Hydraulic Engineering, Brussels, Belgium.
39. ETH Zurich, Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, Zurich, Switzerland.
40. National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Ltd (NIWA), Hillcrest, Hamilton, New Zealand.
41. Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, New York, USA.
42. Biology Department, State University of New York College at Oneonta (SUNY Oneonta), Oneonta, New York, USA.
43. Department of Biological Sciences, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, USA. rosek4@rpi.edu.

Abstract

The concentration of dissolved oxygen in aquatic systems helps to regulate biodiversity^1,2, nutrient biogeochemistry³, greenhouse gas emissions4, and the quality of drinking water5. The long-term declines in dissolved oxygen concentrations in coastal and ocean waters have been linked to climate warming and human activity^6,7, but little is known about the changes in dissolved oxygen concentrations in lakes. Although the solubility of dissolved oxygen decreases with increasing water temperatures, long-term lake trajectories are difficult to predict. Oxygen losses in warming lakes may be amplified by enhanced decomposition and stronger thermal stratification^8,9 or oxygen may increase as a result of enhanced primary production¹⁰. Here we analyse a combined total of 45,148 dissolved oxygen and temperature profiles and calculate trends for 393 temperate lakes that span 1941 to 2017. We find that a decline in dissolved oxygen is widespread in surface and deep-water habitats. The decline in surface waters is primarily associated with reduced solubility under warmer water temperatures, although dissolved oxygen in surface waters increased in a subset of highly productive warming lakes, probably owing to increasing production of phytoplankton. By contrast, the decline in deep waters is associated with stronger thermal stratification and loss of water clarity, but not with changes in gas solubility. Our results suggest that climate change and declining water clarity have altered the physical and chemical environment of lakes. Declines in dissolved oxygen in freshwater are 2.75 to 9.3 times greater than observed in the world's oceans^6,7 and could threaten essential lake ecosystem services^2,3,5,11.