Please note that this session was withdrawn and is no longer available in the respective programme. This withdrawal might have been the result of a merge with another session.
HS1.1.9 | Lakes in crisis: The global challenge of shrinking lakes in arid and semi-arid regions, causes and consequences
Lakes in crisis: The global challenge of shrinking lakes in arid and semi-arid regions, causes and consequences
Convener: Timothy W. Lyons | Co-conveners: Charles Diamond, Caroline Hung, Virginia Gewin
This session focuses on the many environmental and ecological challenges linked to shrinking lakes around the world. In the face of intense droughts, increased evaporation with warming temperatures, and greater demand on water resources, lakes worldwide are drying, exposing surrounding regions to diverse consequences that include threats to human health from increased dust emissions and deteriorating water quality. We view this as an opportunity to meet and share common and unique challenges from the many locations in the world impacted by this problem—to work toward solutions and draw further global attention to the issues. Presentations will include, but are not limited to, those describing case studies from specific lake systems experiencing dramatic and rapid declines in size, water quality, and the attendant deleterious environmental impacts. Additional themes include those addressing the common threads that run through these settings, such as increasing salinity and nutrient levels, controls on the amounts and compositions of increasing dust loads, harmful microbiological/biogeochemical effects, dwindling resource availability (e.g., for agriculture), sociopolitical pressures, ecological degradation within the lakes and beyond, and current and future threats to large human populations, among others.