Abrupt ecological shifts have become a pervasive feature of aquatic ecosystems with severe socio-ecological consequences. Yet, it remains uncertain whether these shifts happened synchronously or not among various lakes, and how multiple drivers interacted through time to drive these abrupt changes on a global scale. To address this knowledge gap, here we conducted a meta-analysis of 72 lakes worldwide based on integrated paleoecological records ranging from the 1850s–2010s. We found ecological shifts were mostly asynchronous across global lakes, but with an exceptionally increasing frequency since the 1950s. Driver-response results showed that abrupt shifts before the 1950s were dominated by climate change, whereas both anthropogenic drivers and climate change were responsible for most post-1950s shifts. Network analysis further indicated that interactions of multiple stressors are more prone to produce abrupt shifts, and global climate change is the most frequent co-occurrence driver, underscoring the need for global coherent collaboration to mitigate Anthropocene risk. Our findings provide new insights and empirical evidence for characterizing the Anthropocene from a global lake perspective.

Shixin HUANG, Ke ZHANG, Qi LIN et al.,Abrupt ecological shifts of lakes during the Anthropocene. Earth-Science Reviews. doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2022.103981.