{"id":32542,"date":"2020-10-14T10:32:52","date_gmt":"2020-10-14T14:32:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/?p=32542"},"modified":"2024-10-22T15:23:32","modified_gmt":"2024-10-22T19:23:32","slug":"unprecedented-changes-are-a-new-challenge-for-lake-tanganyika","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/unprecedented-changes-are-a-new-challenge-for-lake-tanganyika.htm","title":{"rendered":"Unprecedented Changes are a New Challenge for Lake Tanganyika"},"content":{"rendered":"

*This is part two of a series on changing ancient lakes. See part one, Lake Baikal, here<\/a> .<\/em><\/span><\/h4>\n

Ancient lakes are facing a suite of rapid, unprecedented anthropogenic changes. While ancient lakes are spread around the world and vary widely from lake to lake, their incredible age, which can reach into the tens of millions of years, makes them unique resources to science.<\/span><\/p>\n

They host incredible biodiversity and long sediment records. They are vital sources of food and water for millions of people. In a changing world, ancient lakes\u2019 value as scientific and natural resources and the incredibly diverse life they contain is under threat.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lake Tanganyika\u2019s tropical climate feels climate change effects<\/span><\/h3>\n

Like a few other ancient lakes around the world, Lake Tanganyika contains surprising instances of speciation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cichlids exist around the world, but, like Lake Baikal\u2019s amphipods, in Lake Tanganyika (and a few nearby lakes), they have diversified in remarkable ways.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are cichlids<\/span><\/a> that raise their offspring in their mouths, cichlids that eat only the scales of other fish, cichlids up to three feet long and cichlids that can fit inside a snail\u2019s shell, said Catherine O\u2019Reilly, a professor in the department of geography and geology at Illinois State University, who studies Lake Tanganyika.<\/span><\/p>\n

Shoreline disruptions and climate change are putting pressure on them as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

And, the lake\u2019s overall fish populations could be on the decline as the lake warms with the climate.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lake Tanganyika relies on a windy season to destratify, not seasonal shifts in lake temperature like non-tropical lakes. As the lake\u2019s surface water gets warmer, it resists mixing with the deeper, cooler water.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Lake

A buoy monitoring air and water in Lake Tanganyika. (Credit: Bill Perry)<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cIt gets more and more like oil on water,\u201d O\u2019Reilly said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lake mixing cycles nutrient-rich water from the lake\u2019s depths up to the surface, fueling the growth of plants and algae that feed fish.<\/span><\/p>\n

In recent years, the number and size of fish have both decreased in Lake Tanganyika, said O\u2019Reilly, who is wrapping up a study looking at the cause of this trend. Climate factors and overfishing could both contribute. Either way, the changing lake could have major implications for the people who rely on it for food.<\/span><\/p>\n

Historically, the lake has provided fish, a really important source of protein, to surrounding communities. Up to 40% of animal protein consumed in the surrounding area might come from the lake, O\u2019Reilly said.<\/span><\/p>\n

But on land, fish is getting more expensive while fishing is becoming a less financially rewarding business, she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Looking ahead in a rapidly changing environment<\/span><\/h3>\n

\u201cOne of the things we do know, especially from these ancient lakes, is that the lake is going to be fine, no matter what happens,\u201d O\u2019Reilly said. \u201cThey have experienced so many swings in Earth\u2019s conditions.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But that doesn\u2019t mean they won\u2019t lose endemic species or emerge unchanged.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cWhatever we\u2019re losing right now, we\u2019re never getting back,\u201d O\u2019Reilly said. \u201cThey\u2019re not going to evolve in the exact same way.\u201d <\/a><\/span>Share on X<\/a><\/span>\n

The risk of losing biodiversity and fish for food requires additional attention.<\/span><\/p>\n

O\u2019Reilly noted a new initiative to do increased monitoring on the African Great Lakes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason we talk about Lake Tanganyika is that we don\u2019t have very good data for many of these other lakes,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of interest in figuring out how to take better advantage of those technologies to better figure out what\u2019s really changing.\u201d Only with baseline data can the scope of changes to lakes be fully understood.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Lake

Researchers applaud as they launch a buoy that will monitor air and water in Lake Tanganyika. (Credit: Bill Perry)<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Stephanie Hampton, a professor in the Center for Environmental Research, Education and Outreach at Washington State University who has studied Lake Baikal, the world\u2019s oldest lake, echoed the need for monitoring, especially along the lake shore, where pollutants and excess nutrients enter the lake, sometimes causing eutrophication.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou really want to monitor near the shoreline because that\u2019s where the changes will typically first occur. So, if you see eutrophication nearshore, before it is seen offshore, at that early stage you have a better chance to address it, potentially reverse it,\u201d she said. By the time it is detectable offshore, the problem is usually much worse.<\/span><\/p>\n

But, speaking generally about ancient lakes is difficult because all old lakes aren\u2019t the same.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be different for each situation and different communities are going to make different decisions,\u201d Hampton said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Whatever unique cocktail of industrial pollution, warming waters, increased nutrient load, changing lake levels or threats to biodiversity ancient lakes face, they will each respond in their own unique way. And, the wildlife and people that call these lakes home will have to adapt as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

Top image:\u00a0A fishing boat on Lake Tanganyika. (Credit: Bill Perry)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rapid, anthropogenic pressures are changing the face of one of Africa\u2019s oldest, most diverse lakes, biodiversity & food security are at risk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":32546,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5,458,32,8],"tags":[2233,135,2240,157,60,2241,2242,2239,109,2238,2243],"class_list":["post-32542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aquatic_species-htm","category-featured-articles","category-fish-science","category-lakes-reservoirs","category-newsfeed","tag-ancient-lakes","tag-biodiversity","tag-cichlids","tag-climate-change","tag-featured","tag-fish-populations","tag-food-security","tag-lake-tanganyika","tag-news-ticker","tag-speciation","tag-stratification"],"remote_post_permalink":false,"remote_post_featured_image":false,"yoast_head":"\nUnprecedented Changes are a New Challenge for Lake 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