Limnology articles from across Nature Portfolio

Water quality impacts by harmful algal blooms co-occur with anthropogenic chemicals and waste pollution. We need to embrace multidisciplinary approaches to advance the science and improve the practice of water quality assessment and management.

Lake ice has witnessed considerable changes in its phenology, but less is known about ice quality — the ratio of black ice to white ice. This Review assesses the changes in lake ice quality and its ecosystem services, noting diminished ice quality in observations and projections.

Over the past millennium, subtropical east Asia has experienced rainfall heterogeneity, with synchronous variations in southeast Asia and north China but heterogeneous rainfall patterns in central to southwest China due to the influence of the western Pacific subtropical high, according to analysis of Asian precipitation records.

Soil moisture-atmosphere feedback increases spring streamflow in mid-latitude China by 28-58% but decreases it in other parts of China by 12-48% according to hydrological modelling and atmospheric moisture budget analysis

Lake surface water temperatures have increased over recent decades, mainly driven by atmospheric conditions. Here the authors demonstrate that heat events drive a disproportionately large part of this lake surface warming and increases in lake heatwaves.

Lake total organic carbon storage is usually assumed to be a constant. Here, the authors demonstrate that dissolved and particulate organic carbon storage increase by 45% and 34%, respectively, in Chinses lakes during 1984–2023.

Water quality impacts by harmful algal blooms co-occur with anthropogenic chemicals and waste pollution. We need to embrace multidisciplinary approaches to advance the science and improve the practice of water quality assessment and management.

Not accounting for coupled land–water carbon fluxes can lead to flawed understanding and incorrect assessments of climate impact and feedback on the Arctic carbon cycle. There is a need for collaborative studies, between scientific disciplines and approaches, that integrate carbon transformations and fluxes across the Arctic land–water continuum.

Lakes on the Tibetan Plateau are projected to expand significantly, increasing in area by approximately 50% by 2100 under a low emissions scenario. This expansion will reshape the hydrological connectivity of the lake basins, and submerge a large number of roads, settlements, and ecological components.

Oxygen concentrations are a key aspect of water quality, with low levels linked to ecosystem stress. Research indicates that oxygen levels will decrease in hundreds of rivers across the USA and Central Europe under climate change.

Research using lakes and ponds as model systems contributes both to addressing the freshwater biodiversity crisis and developing general theories and frameworks for understanding how biological systems respond to climate change and other anthropogenic stressors.