Loiselle Steven, Cózar Andrés, Adgo Enyew, Ballatore Thomas, Chavula Geoffrey, Descy Jean Pierre, Harper David M, Kansiime Frank, Kimirei Ismael, Langenberg Victor, Ma Ronghua, Sarmento Hugo, Odada Eric
Dipartimento di Biotecnologie, Chimica e Farmacia, Consorzio per lo Sviluppo dei Sistemi a Grande Interfase, Università degli Studi di Siena, Siena, Italy.
Departamento de Biología, Universidad de Cádiz, Puerto Real, Spain.
PLoS One. 2014 Apr 3;9(4):e93656. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0093656. eCollection 2014.
The Great Lakes of East Africa are among the world's most important freshwater ecosystems. Despite their importance in providing vital resources and ecosystem services, the impact of regional and global environmental drivers on this lacustrine system remains only partially understood. We make a systematic comparison of the dynamics of the bio-optical and thermal properties of thirteen of the largest African lakes between 2002 and 2011. Lake surface temperatures had a positive trend in all Great Lakes outside the latitude of 0° to 8° south, while the dynamics of those lakes within this latitude range were highly sensitive to global inter-annual climate drivers (i.e. El Niño Southern Oscillation). Lake surface temperature dynamics in nearly all lakes were found to be sensitive to the latitudinal position of the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone. Phytoplankton dynamics varied considerably between lakes, with increasing and decreasing trends. Intra-lake differences in both surface temperature and phytoplankton dynamics occurred for many of the larger lakes. This inter-comparison of bio-optical and thermal dynamics provides new insights into the response of these ecosystems to global and regional drivers.
东非大湖是世界上最重要的淡水生态系统之一。尽管它们在提供重要资源和生态系统服务方面具有重要意义，但区域和全球环境驱动因素对这个湖泊系统的影响仍只是部分为人所知。我们对2002年至2011年间非洲13个最大湖泊的生物光学和热学特性动态进行了系统比较。在南纬0°至8°以外的所有大湖中，湖面温度呈上升趋势，而在这个纬度范围内的湖泊动态对全球年际气候驱动因素（即厄尔尼诺南方涛动）高度敏感。几乎所有湖泊的湖面温度动态都被发现对热带辐合带的纬度位置敏感。不同湖泊之间浮游植物动态差异很大，有增加和减少的趋势。许多较大湖泊内部在表面温度和浮游植物动态方面都存在差异。这种生物光学和热学动态的相互比较为这些生态系统对全球和区域驱动因素的响应提供了新的见解。
