Global ecosystem typology

Alternative site for the Global ecosystem typology with additional information for ecosystem profiles and indicative maps.

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F2.1 Large permanent freshwater lakes

Biome: F2. Lakes biome

Contributors:
(texts)

Large volumes of permanent water in these lakes buffers water temperatures and effects of nutrient input on water quality. The spatial extent and range of habitats support very large numbers of species in some groups such as fish, some of which are unique to a single lake, often composed of closely related species, endemic to a lake. The high primary productivity from algae and aquatic plants lake supports diverse foodwebs. High numbers of plankton support large numbers of waterbugs, fish, frogs, reptiles, waterbirds, and mammals. Bacteria play key roles in cycling organic matter.

Key Features

Large (usually >100km2) permanent freshwater lakes connected to rivers, with high spatial and bathymetric niche diversity supporting complex trophic networks supported by planktonic algae, high diversity and endemism.

Overview of distribution

Humid temperate and tropical regions.

Profile versions

  • v1.0 (2020-01-20): RT Kingsford; RC Mac Nally; LJ Jackson; F Essl; DA Keith
  • v2.0 (2020-05-24): RT Kingsford; R Mac Nally; LJ Jackson; F Essl; K Irvine; DA Keith
  • v2.01 ():
  • v2.1 (2022-04-06): RT Kingsford; R Mac Nally; LJ Jackson; F Essl; K Irvine; DA Keith Full profile available at official site

Main references

Selected references for this functional group:

  • Ludsin SA, DeVanna KM, Smith REH (2014) Physical-biological coupling and the challenge of understanding fish recruitment in freshwater lakes Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 71: 775-794 DOI:10.1139/cjfas-2013-0512

  • Pennisi E (2018) Hybrids spawned Lake Victoria’s rich fish diversity Science 361: 539-539 DOI:10.1126/science.361.6402.539

Diagrammatic assembly model

Diagrammatic assembly model of F2.1 Large permanent freshwater lakes. See general notes on diagrams. Open image full size.

Maps

Maps are indicative of global distribution patterns are not intended to represent fine-scale patterns. The maps show areas of the world containing major (coloured red) or minor occurrences (coloured yellow) of each ecosystem functional group. See general notes on maps.

There are 2 alternative versions of the indicative map for this functional group, please compare description and sources below.

F2.1.IM.alt_v4.0

Datasets

  • KG-climate-2018
  • HydroLAKES-1.0
  • GSW-1.1

Map references

  • Beck, H., Zimmermann, N., McVicar, T. et al. (2018) Present and future Köppen-Geiger climate classification maps at 1-km resolution Sci Data 5, 180214 DOI:10.1038/sdata.2018.214

  • Messager, M.L., Lehner, B., Grill, G., Nedeva, I., Schmitt, O. (2016) Estimating the volume and age of water stored in global lakes using a geo-statistical approach Nature Communications 13603 DOI:10.1038/ncomms13603

  • Pekel JF, Cottam A, Gorelick N, Belward AS (2016) High-resolution mapping of global surface water and its long-term changes Nature 540, 418-422 DOI:10.1038/nature20584

F2.1.web.alt_v4.0

Locations of large lakes (>100km2)were taken from the HydroLAKES database (Messager et al. 2016) and combined with global estimates of permanent surface water surfaces (classes 1, 2 and 7 from Pekel et al. 2016). Freeze/thaw lakes in boreal and polar climates (temperature of coldest quarter > -10°C) were excluded (Beck et al. 2018) (see F2.3). Occurrences were aggregated to 30 arc second spatial resolution. Open image full size.

Datasets

  • GSW-1.1
  • HydroLAKES-1.0
  • KG-climate-2018

Map references

  • Pekel JF, Cottam A, Gorelick N, Belward AS (2016) High-resolution mapping of global surface water and its long-term changes Nature 540, 418-422 DOI:10.1038/nature20584

  • Messager, M.L., Lehner, B., Grill, G., Nedeva, I., Schmitt, O. (2016) Estimating the volume and age of water stored in global lakes using a geo-statistical approach Nature Communications 13603 DOI:10.1038/ncomms13603

  • Beck, H., Zimmermann, N., McVicar, T. et al. (2018) Present and future Köppen-Geiger climate classification maps at 1-km resolution Sci Data 5, 180214 DOI:10.1038/sdata.2018.214

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