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The global abundance and size distribution of lakes, ponds, and impoundments
Author(s) -
Downing J. A.,
Prairie Y. T.,
Cole J. J.,
Duarte C. M.,
Tranvik L. J.,
Striegl R. G.,
McDowell W. H.,
Kortelainen P.,
Caraco N. F.,
Melack J. M.,
Middelburg J. J.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
limnology and oceanography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.7
H-Index - 197
eISSN - 1939-5590
pISSN - 0024-3590
DOI - 10.4319/lo.2006.51.5.2388
Subject(s) - lake ecosystem , abundance (ecology) , environmental science , ecosystem , precipitation , spatial distribution , surface water , distribution (mathematics) , physical geography , hydrology (agriculture) , land cover , ecology , geography , land use , geology , remote sensing , environmental engineering , meteorology , biology , geotechnical engineering , mathematical analysis , mathematics
One of the major impediments to the integration of lentic ecosystems into global environmental analyses has been fragmentary data on the extent and size distribution of lakes, ponds, and impoundments. We use new data sources, enhanced spatial resolution, and new analytical approaches to provide new estimates of the global abundance of surface‐water bodies. A global model based on the Pareto distribution shows that the global extent of natural lakes is twice as large as previously known (304 million lakes; 4.2 million km 2 in area) and is dominated in area by millions of water bodies smaller than 1 km 2 . Similar analyses of impoundments based on inventories of large, engineered dams show that impounded waters cover approximately 0.26 million km 2 . However, construction of low‐tech farm impoundments is estimated to be between 0.1% and 6% of farm area worldwide, dependent upon precipitation, and represents ≫77,000 km 2 globally, at present. Overall, about 4.6 million km 2 of the earth's continental “land” surface (≫3%) is covered by water. These analyses underscore the importance of explicitly considering lakes, ponds, and impoundments, especially small ones, in global analyses of rates and processes.