Key rules of life and the fading cryosphere: Impacts in alpine lakes and streams

作者：James J. Elser, Chenxi Wu, Angélica L. González, Daniel H. Shain, Heidi J. Smith, Rubén Sommaruga, Craig E. Williamson, Janice Brahney, Scott Hotaling, Joseph Vanderwall, Jinlei Yu, Vladimir Aizen, E. Aizen, Tom J. Battin, Roberto Camassa, Xiu Feng, Hongchen Jiang, Lixin Lu, John J. Qu, Ze Ren, Jun Wen, Lijuan Wen, H. Arthur Woods, Xiong Xiong, Jun Xu, Gongliang Yu, J. T. Harper, Jasmine E. Saros · 发表于：Global Change Biology · 年份：2020 · DOI：10.1111/gcb.15362 · 被引用次数：85 · 研究领域：Species Distribution and Climate Change、Cryospheric studies and observations、Marine and coastal ecosystems

Alpine regions are changing rapidly due to loss of snow and ice in response to ongoing climate change. While studies have documented ecological responses in alpine lakes and streams to these changes, our ability to predict such outcomes is limited. We propose that the application of fundamental rules of life can help develop necessary predictive frameworks. We focus on four key rules of life and their interactions: the temperature dependence of biotic processes from enzymes to evolution; the wavelength dependence of the effects of solar radiation on biological and ecological processes; the ramifications of the non-arbitrary elemental stoichiometry of life; and maximization of limiting resource use efficiency across scales. As the cryosphere melts and thaws, alpine lakes and streams will experience major changes in temperature regimes, absolute and relative inputs of solar radiation in ultraviolet and photosynthetically active radiation, and relative supplies of resources (e.g., carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus), leading to nonlinear and interactive effects on particular biota, as well as on community and ecosystem properties. We propose that applying these key rules of life to cryosphere-influenced ecosystems will reduce uncertainties about the impacts of global change and help develop an integrated global view of rapidly changing alpine environments. However, doing so will require intensive interdisciplinary collaboration and international cooperation. More broadly, the alpi...