Towards climate-robust aquatic ecosystem restoration: lessons learned from controlled experiments and modeling

Summary

We know that a changing climate is unstoppable, and our lakes and rivers are already suffering from water quality issues (e.g., eutrophication and algae blooms). Experts have developed some approaches to restore polluted aquatic systems. The unanswered question, however, is whether these approaches are still valid under future climatic conditions with more extreme events (e.g., heatwave and heavy rain). During my 4-year PhD, I used controlled experiments and modeling as tools to address this question. The results suggest that we might need more efforts in restoring our lakes and rivers in the future, in order to maintain a healthy water system capable of delivering ecosystem service to humans and animals, such as swimming, fishing, habitat preservation. Some methods from my thesis, like the ecosystem service modeling tool built on a process-based model (PCLake), can be further used by water managers for a more quantitative evaluation of the gains and losses with different restoration strategies.