• Energy Research

Lakes are an important source and sink of atmospheric CO2, and thus are a vital component of the global carbon cycle. However, with scarce data on potentially important subtropical and tropical areas for whole continents such as Australia, the magnitude of large-scale lake CO2 emissions is unclear. This study presents spatiotemporal changes of dissolved inorganic carbon and water - to - air interface CO2 flux in the two of Australia's largest connected, yet geomorphically different freshwater lakes (Lake Alexandrina and Lake Albert, South Australia), during drought (2007 to September-2010) and post-drought (October 2010 to 2013). Lake levels in the extreme drought were on average approximately 1m lower than long-term average (0.71 m AHD). Drought was associated with an increase in the concentrations of dissolved inorganic species, organic carbon, nitrogen, Chl-a and major ions, as well as water acidification as a consequence of acid sulfate soil (ASS) exposure, and hence, had profound effects on lake pCO2 concentrations. Lakes Alexandrina and Albert were a source of CO2 to the atmosphere during the drought period, with efflux ranging from 0.3 to 7.0 mmol/m(2)/d. The lake air-water CO2 flux was negative in the post-drought, ranging between -16.4 and 0.9 mmol/m(2)/d. The average annual CO2 emission was estimated at 615.5×10(6) mol CO2/y during the drought period. These calculated emission rates are in the lower range for lakes, despite the potential for drought conditions that shift the lakes from sink to net source for atmospheric CO2. These observations have significant implications in the context of predicted increasing frequency and intensity of drought as a result of climate change. Further information on the spatial and temporal variability in CO2 flux from Australian lakes is urgently warranted to revise the global carbon budget for lakes.

Abstract Droughts are set to increase in frequency and magnitude with climate change and water extraction, and understanding their influence on ecosystems is urgent in the Holocene. Low rainfall across the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) of Australia resulted in an unprecedented water level decline in the Lower Lakes (Lakes Alexandrina and Albert) at the downstream end of the river system. A comprehensive data covering pre-drought (2004–2006), drought (2007–2010) and post-drought (2010–2013) was firstly used to unravel drought effects on water quality in the contrasting main parts and margins of the two Lakes, particularly following water acidification resulting from acid sulfate soil oxidation. Salinity, nutrients and Chl-a significantly increased during the drought in the Lake main waterbody, while pH remained stable or showed minor shifts. In contrast to the Lake Alexandrina, total dissolved solid (TDS) and electrical conductivity (EC) during the post-drought more than doubled the pre-drought period in the Lake Albert as being a terminal lake system with narrow and shallow entrance. Rewetting of the exposed pyrite-containing sediment resulted in very low pH (below 3) in Lake margins, which positively contributed to salinity increases via SO42− release and limestone dissolution. Very acidic water (pH 2–3) was neutralised naturally by lake refill, but aerial limestone dosing was required for neutralisation of water acidity during the drought period. The Lower Lakes are characterized as hypereutrophic with much higher salinity, nutrient and algae concentrations than guideline levels for aquatic ecosystem. These results suggest that, in the Lower Lakes, drought could cause water quality deterioration through water acidification and increased nutrient and Chl-a concentrations, more effective water management in the lake catchment is thus crucial to prevent the similar water quality deterioration since the projected intensification of droughts. A comparative assessment on lake resilience and recovering processes should be undertaken with a post-drought monitoring program.

China’s huge investment on water infrastructure for sustainable water use, followed by recently frequent natural disasters, caused worldwide concerns, i.e., continuously published by Nature and Science. Most researchers emphasized challenges on this investment; yet, we argue that the 2011-plan, targeting reservoirs, wells, irrigation systems, inter-basin water transfer projects, is the most effective adaptation to climate change, drought and flooding, as well as food security. This provides a good case of water management and development, particularly for the current uneven water resources and food security by climate change.

Riparian ecosystems are essential carbon dioxide (CO2) sources, which considerably promotes climate warming. However, the other greenhouse gas fluxes (GHGs), such as methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O), in the riparian ecosystems have not been well studied, and it remains unclear whether and how these GHG fluxes respond to extreme weather, fertilization and hydrological alterations associated with reservoir management. Here, we assessed the impacts of hydrological alterations (i.e., flooding frequency) and fertilization (nitrogen and/or phosphorus) induced by human activities (hydroengineering construction and agricultural activities) on GHG fluxes, and further investigated the underlying mechanisms in two contrasting years (normal vs. extreme rainfall years) in a reservoir riparian zone dominated by grasses. The significant combined effects of extreme rainfall events and human activities (hydrological alterations and fertilization) on the GHGs were observed. Continuous flooding reduced CO2 emissions by 24% but increased CH4 emissions by ∼4 times in a normal rainfall year. In addition, nitrogen fertilization promoted CO2 emissions by 37%. However, these phenomena were not observed in the year with extreme rainfall events, which made the flooding levels homogeneous across the treatments. Furthermore, we found that CO2 fluxes were driven by the soil moisture, nutrient content, aboveground biomass, and root carbon content, while CH4 and N2O fluxes were merely driven by the soil properties (pH, moisture, and nutrient content). This study provides valuable insights into the crucial role of extreme rainfall events, hydrological alteration, and fertilization in regulating GHG fluxes in riparian ecosystems, as well as supports the integration of these changes in GHG emission models.

Silicon and carbon geochemical linkages were usually regulated by chemical weathering and organism activity, but had not been investigated under the drought condition, and the magnitude and extent of drought effects remain poorly understood. We collected a comprehensive data set from a total of 13 sampling sites covering the main water body of the largest freshwater lake system in Australia, the Lower Lakes. Changes to water quality during drought (April 2008-September 2010) and post-drought (October 2010-October 2013) were compared to reveal the effects of drought on dissolved silica (DSi) and bicarbonate (HCO3-) and other environmental factors, including sodium (Na+), pH, electrical conductivity (EC), chlorophyll a (Chl-a), total dissolved solids (TDS), dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP) and water levels. Among the key observations, concentrations of DSi and DIN were markedly lower in drought than in post-drought period while pH, EC and concentrations of HCO3-, Na+, Chl-a, TDS, TN, TP and the ratio TN:TP had inverse trends. Stoichiometric ratios of DSi:HCO3-, DSi:Na+ and HCO3-:Na+ were significantly lower in the drought period. DSi exhibited significantly negative relationships with HCO3-, and DSi:Na+ was strongly correlated with HCO3-:Na+ in both drought and post-drought periods. The backward stepwise regression analysis that could avoid multicollinearity suggested that DSi:HCO3- ratio in drought period had significant relationships with fewer variables when compared to the post-drought, and was better predictable using nutrient variables during post-drought. Our results highlight the drought effects on variations of water constituents and point to the decoupling of silicon and carbon geochemical linkages in the Lower Lakes under drought conditions.

AbstractTerrestrial ecosystems are increasingly being exposed to metallic nanoparticles (MNPs). However, the global‐scale impact of MNPs on soil carbon dioxide (CO2) emission remains unknown, limiting our understanding of the role of MNPs in global carbon cycle. We compiled a dataset comprising 1764 pairs of experimental observations to investigate the effects of MNPs exposure on soil respiration parameters, including respiration rates, related enzyme activities, and microbial variables. We found that MNPs could stimulate or suppress soil basal respiration rates across global environments, depending largely on the type of MNPs. We further showed that, although the inhibition of MNPs on most enzyme activities peaked in short‐term exposure (≤28 days), prolonged exposure to MNPs still inhibited soil organic carbon degradation. Finally, we determined that environmental conditions (e.g., soil pH and presence/absence of plants) were also important regulators of the influence of MNPs on soil respiration parameters. Our findings underline that the effects of MNPs on soil CO2 emission depended on MNPs type, exposure design, and environmental factors, which is critical for predicting the role of MNPs in influencing the global carbon cycle and climate change.

Anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have substantially contributed to intensification of heavy precipitation and thus the risk of flood occurrence, and this anthropogenic climate change is now likely to continue for many centuries. Thus, precise quantification of human-induced GHG emissions is urgently required for modeling future global warming and precipitation changes, which is strongly linked to flood disasters. Recently, GHG evasion from hydroelectric reservoirs was estimated to be 48 Tg C as CO2 and 3 Tg C as CH4 annually, lower than earlier estimate (published in Nature Geoscience; 2011). Here, we analyzed the uncertainties of GHG emissions from hydroelectric reservoirs, that is, reservoir surface area, data paucity and carbon emission relating to ecological zone, and argued that GHG evasion from global hydroelectric reservoirs has been largely under-estimated. Our study hopes to improve the quantification for future researches.

Collectively, reservoirs created by dams are thought to be an important source of greenhouse gases (GHGs) to the atmosphere. So far, efforts to quantify, model, and manage these emissions have been limited by data availability and inconsistencies in methodological approach. Here, we synthesize reservoir CH4, CO2, and N2O emission data with three main objectives: (1) to generate a global estimate of GHG emissions from reservoirs, (2) to identify the best predictors of these emissions, and (3) to consider the effect of methodology on emission estimates. We estimate that GHG emissions from reservoir water surfaces account for 0.8 (0.5-1.2) Pg CO2 equivalents per year, with the majority of this forcing due to CH4. We then discuss the potential for several alternative pathways such as dam degassing and downstream emissions to contribute significantly to overall emissions. Although prior studies have linked reservoir GHG emissions to reservoir age and latitude, we find that factors related to reservoir productivity are better predictors of emission.