Wildfire smoke affects the function of lake ecosystems
Wildfires are on the rise. The smoke they bring darkens the sky and deposits ash. Ocean research has provided clues about how smoke affects marine ecosystems, but little is known about how it affects freshwater ecosystems like lakes. A new study published in Communications Earth and Environment shows that in some California lakes, smoke can alter physical and biological processes that are key to systems such as nutrient cycling, rates of carbon sequestration, and food web structure. Both the number of smoky days and the extent of smoke coverage have climbed in recent decades, said Adrianne Smits, an environmental scientist at the University of California, Davis, and coauthor of the new study. “Smoke cover in California is really no longer an ephemeral event,” she said, but “could be thought of more as a seasonal phenomenon.”
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