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Changes threaten biodiversity and drinking water quality
Lake Stechlin is an example of how oxygen is increasingly depleting in lakes. | Photo: Solvin Zankl
Oxygen levels in freshwater lakes are declining rapidly – faster than in the oceans. Over the past forty years, for example, oxygen levels in the deep waters of temperate lakes have dropped by nearly 19 percent. This is shown by a study with IGB published today in the journal Nature. This trend is mainly due to climate change and threatens freshwater biodiversity and drinking water quality.
The international research team, led by the U.S. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, analyzed a total of more than 45,000 oxygen and temperature profiles collected from nearly 400 lakes around the globe since 1941. Most of the long-term data came from the temperate zone, which ranges from 23 to 66 degrees north and south latitude. The analyses show that since 1980, oxygen levels in the lakes studied have declined by 5.5 percent at the surfa