Dataset Information

Widespread diminishing anthropogenic effects on calcium in freshwaters.

ABSTRACT: Calcium (Ca) is an essential element for almost all living organisms. Here, we examined global variation and controls of freshwater Ca concentrations, using 440 599 water samples from 43 184 inland water sites in 57 countries. We found that the global median Ca concentration was 4.0?mg?L-1 with 20.7% of the water samples showing Ca concentrations???1.5?mg?L-1, a threshold considered critical for the survival of many Ca-demanding organisms. Spatially, freshwater Ca concentrations were strongly and proportionally linked to carbonate alkalinity, with the highest Ca and carbonate alkalinity in waters with a pH around 8.0 and decreasing in concentrations towards lower pH. However, on a temporal scale, by analyzing decadal trends in >200 water bodies since the 1980s, we observed a frequent decoupling between carbonate alkalinity and Ca concentrations, which we attributed mainly to the influence of anthropogenic acid deposition. As acid deposition has been ameliorated, in many freshwaters carbonate alkalinity concentrations have increased or remained constant, while Ca concentrations have rapidly declined towards or even below pre-industrial conditions as a consequence of recovery from anthropogenic acidification. Thus, a paradoxical outcome of the successful remediation of acid deposition is a globally widespread freshwater Ca concentration decline towards critically low levels for many aquatic organisms.

SUBMITTER: Weyhenmeyer GA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6639332 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Widespread diminishing anthropogenic effects on calcium in freshwaters.

Weyhenmeyer Gesa A GA Hartmann Jens J Hessen Dag O DO Kopáček Jiří J Hejzlar Josef J Jacquet Stéphan S Hamilton Stephen K SK Verburg Piet P Leach Taylor H TH Schmid Martin M Flaim Giovanna G Nõges Tiina T Nõges Peeter P Wentzky Valerie C VC Rogora Michela M Rusak James A JA Kosten Sarian S Paterson Andrew M AM Teubner Katrin K Higgins Scott N SN Lawrence Gregory G Kangur Külli K Kokorite Ilga I Cerasino Leonardo L Funk Clara C Harvey Rebecca R Moatar Florentina F de Wit Heleen A HA Zechmeister Thomas T

Scientific reports 20190718 1

Calcium (Ca) is an essential element for almost all living organisms. Here, we examined global variation and controls of freshwater Ca concentrations, using 440 599 water samples from 43 184 inland water sites in 57 countries. We found that the global median Ca concentration was 4.0 mg L<sup>-1</sup> with 20.7% of the water samples showing Ca concentrations ≤ 1.5 mg L<sup>-1</sup>, a threshold considered critical for the survival of many Ca-demanding organisms. Spatially, freshwater Ca concentra ...[more]

PMID: 31320731

Similar Datasets

Project description:Provenance trials are used to study the effects of tree origin on climate-growth relationships. Thereby, they potentially identify provenances which appear more resilient to anticipated climate change. However, when studying between provenance variability in growth behavior it becomes important to address potential effects related to site marginality in the context of provenance trials. In our study we focus on provenance-specific climate sensitivity manifested under marginal growth conditions. We hypothesized that the provenance effects are masked if trials are located at marginal environmental conditions of the natural species distribution. Under this framework, we investigate 10 Norway spruce provenances growing at two contrasting locations, i.e., a relatively drought-prone site in western Poland (at the climatic margin of Norway spruce's natural distribution) and a mild and moist site in north-eastern Poland (within its natural range). Combining principal component analysis with climate-growth relationships, we found distinguishable growth patterns and climate correlations among provenances. That is, at the mild and moist north-eastern site, we observed provenance-specific growth patterns and thus a varying drought susceptibility. In contrast, at the dryer western site, provenance-specific growth patterns were less pronounced and all provenances expressed a common and strong sensitivity to drought. Our results indicate that the genetic specificity of growth reactions diminishes toward the distributional margins of a given species. We conclude that the climate conditions at the margins of a species' distribution are constraining tree growth independently of tree origin. Because of this, the marginality of a site has to be considered when evaluating climate sensitivity of provenances within trials. As a consequence, the yet different responses of provenances to adverse growing conditions may synchronize under more extreme conditions in course of the anticipated climate change.

Dataset Information

Widespread diminishing anthropogenic effects on calcium in freshwaters.

Publications

Widespread diminishing anthropogenic effects on calcium in freshwaters.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets