Because of land use and climate change, lakes and reservoirs globally are seeing large decreases in oxygen concentrations in their bottom waters.
Because of land use and climate change, lakes and reservoirs globally are seeing large decreases in oxygen concentrations in their bottom waters. It is well-documented that low oxygen levels have detrimental effects on fish and water quality, but little is known about how these conditions will affect the concentration of carbon dioxide and methane in freshwaters.
Carbon dioxide and methane are the primary forms of carbon that can be found in the Earth's atmosphere. Both of these gases are partially responsible for the greenhouse effect, a process that increases global air temperatures. Methane is 34 times more potent of a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, so knowing how low oxygen levels within lakes and reservoirs affect both carbon dioxide and methane could have important implications for global warming.
Until now, researchers did not have any empirical data from the whole-ecosystem scale to definitively say how changing oxygen can affect these two greenhouse gases.
Read more at: Virginia Tech
Beaverdam Reservoir in Vinton, Virginia. Photo courtesy of Alexandria Hounshell. (Photo Credit: Alexandria Hounshell)
