Geographic Patterns of the Climate Sensitivity of Lakes

Climate change is expected to alter lake water quality and ecosystem services. We analyzed long‐term records of lake clarity, an indicator of lake productivity and light availability, across 365 lakes in the midwestern and northeastern USA from the LAGOS‐NE database to examine lake responses to variability in temperature and precipitation. Lake clarity was generally more sensitive to temperatures and precipitation in midwestern and northeastern regions, respectively, but neighboring lakes often responded differently to similar climate. An important conclusion is that we cannot assume that lakes within a given region, or across different regions, will respond similarly to climate change. Photo credits: Eric Booth (left) and Ian McCullough (right). Photo credits: Ian McCullough. These photographs illustrate the article “Geographic patterns of the climate sensitivity of lakes” by Ian M. McCullough, Kendra Spence Cheruvelil, Sarah M. Collins, and Patricia A. Soranno published in Ecological Applications. https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.183