Severe drought, other changes can cause permanent ecosystem disruption

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http://oregonstate.edu/ua/ncs/archives/2011/oct/severe-drought-other-changes-can-cause-permanent-ecosystem-disruption

Severe drought, other changes can cause permanent ecosystem disruption

10-13-11

CORVALLIS, Ore. – An eight-year study has concluded that increasingly frequent and severe drought, dropping water tables and dried-up springs have pushed some aquatic desert ecosystems into “catastrophic regime change,” from which many species will not recover.

The findings, just published in the journal Freshwater Biology, raise concerns that climate change, over-pumping of aquifers for urban water use, and land management may permanently affect which species can survive. The research was supported by the National Science Foundation.

“Populations that have persisted for hundreds or thousands of years are now dying out,” said David Lytle, an associate professor of zoology at Oregon State University. “Springs that used to be permanent are drying up. Streams that used to be perennial are now intermittent. And species that used to rise and fall in their populations are now disappearing.”

The research, done by Lytle and doctoral candidate Michael Bogan, examined the effect of complete water loss and its subsequent impact on aquatic insect communities in a formerly perennial desert stream in Arizona’s French Joe Canyon, before and after severe droughts in the early 2000s.

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The study this story is based on is available in ScholarsArchive@OSU: http://bit.ly/oA4LLz