As temperatures rise, particularly in alpine regions, lakes are feeling the heat. Research published in the journal Science, led by researchers at the Carnegie Institution for Science, indicates that climate change impacts critical winter processes including lake ice conditions. Changes in lake ice conditions impact the function of ecosystems and the communities that live nearby. With climate affecting this critical winter process one can ask, what other critical changes to freshwaters might occur from changing winters whether at Lake Tahoe, or the small lakes and streams in the mountains of California and Nevada? … There are many ways climate change can and will impact western alpine lakes. Changing snowpack and winter conditions can extend plant growing seasons for lakes in the summer, increasing the opportunities for invasive species to take hold within a lake or expand their range.