Open AccessCentennial‐long trends of lake browning show major effect of afforestation
Author(s) -
Kritzberg Emma S.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
limnology and oceanography letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2378-2242
DOI - 10.1002/lol2.10041
Subject(s) - browning , centennial , afforestation , deposition (geology) , environmental science , soil water , period (music) , physical geography , organic matter , dissolved organic carbon , total organic carbon , hydrology (agriculture) , geography , environmental chemistry , ecology , chemistry , agroforestry , soil science , structural basin , geology , archaeology , biology , acoustics , physics , food science , geotechnical engineering , paleontology
Observations of increasing water color and organic carbon concentrations in lakes are widespread across the Northern Hemisphere. The drivers of these trends are debated. Declining atmospheric sulfur deposition has been put forward as an important underlying factor, since recovery from acidification enhances mobility of organic matter from surrounding soils. This would suggest that the current browning represents a return to a more natural state. This study explores historical lake data from Sweden—1935 to 2015—providing a unique opportunity to see how and why water color has varied during almost a century. The data shows that sulfur deposition has not been the primary driver of water color trends over this period. I propose that the observed browning is to a large extent driven by a major transition from agriculture to forestry.