Melting Cryosphere
Glaciers serve a variety of critical physical, hydrologic, and biogeochemical functions for mountain watersheds. Continued glacier retreat and disappearance in many alpine environments could affect species distribution, composition, diversity, primary productivity, nutrient fluxes, and water quality. Since 1985, glaciers have declined by 15% in the Columbia Basin of Canada, and recent studies indicate that most glaciers in western Canada and the US will disappear by the end of this century. We currently lack a fundamental understanding of how climate change will affect water resources and there is little to no information on the biogeochemical and water quality effects of glacier recession in the Columbia Basin of Canada.
In this research project we employed a space-for-time substitution and retrospective analysis using lake sediment cores to evaluate how aquatic ecosystems, geochemistry, and hydrology varies according to percent glacier cover. We hope our research will further help guide water sustainability management decisions by providing an analogue to the changes that will occur more broadly in the next 100 years. We are collaborating with the Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations, and the Columbia Basin Trust to ensure our results are both valuable to regional land managers and disseminated to the broader public. Working closely with all levels of government will enable the development on decision support tools needed for the consideration of ecosystem services in water management required by the new BC Water Sustainability Act. Specific issues explicitly addressed include changes in ecosystem services such as water supply, habitat, nutrient cycling and, biodiversity. The baseline data collected here can be used in a broader context of evaluating climate impacts in western North America, and will form the basis for other hydrologic and biogeochemical studies in the region. The work was supported through an NSERC fellowship to Janice Brahney and through generous donations by Columbia Basin residents, the provincial government, and the BC Conservation Foundation. |
Publications
++Brahney undergraduate/technician researcher, **Brahney graduate researcher
+Undergraduate researcher, *graduate researcher, φpost-doctoral researcher
**Clancy, N.G., Brahney, J., Dunnigan, J., Budy, P. (2021) Effects of a diatom ecosystem engineer on stream food webs: implications for native fishes. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
Brahney, J., Bothwell, M., **Capito, L., Gray, C., Null, S., Menounos, G., Curtis, P.J. (2020) Glacier recession alters stream water quality characteristics facilitating bloom formation in the benthic diatom Didymosphenia geminata. Science of the Total Environment
Wu. R., Dong, Z., Cheng. X., Brahney, J., Jiao, X., Wu, L. (2022) Heavy metal levels and sources in suspended particulate matters of the glacier watersheds in Northeast Tibetan Plateau. Frontiers in Environmental Science.
*McKnight, E., Swanson, H., Brahney, J., Hik, D. (2021) The physical and chemical limnology of Yukon’s largest lake: Lhu aan Man (Kluane Lake) prior to the 2016 ‘A’ay Chu’ diversion. Arctic Science 1-24
Dong, Z., Brahney, J., Kang, S., Elser, J., Wei, T., Jiao, X., Shao, Y. (2020). Aeolian dust transport, cycles, and influences in the high-elevation cryosphere of the Tibetan Plateau region: new evidence from alpine snow and ice. Earth Science Reviews 103408
Elser, J.J, Wu, C., Gonzales, A., Shain, D., Smith, H.J., Sommaruga, R., Williamson, C.E., Brahney, J., Hotaling, S., Vanderwall, J., Yu, J., Aizen V., Aizen, E., Battin, T.J., Camassa, R., Feng, Xiu., Jiang, H., Lu, L., Qu, J., Ren, Z., Wen, J., Wen, L, Woods, H.A., Xiong, X. Xu, J., Yu, G., Harper, J.T., Saros, J.E. (2020) Rules of life and the fading cryosphere: impacts in alpine lakes and streams. Global Change Biology 26(12), 6644-6656
**Clancy, N.G., Brahney, J., Curtis, J., Budy, P. (2020) Consequences of Didymo blooms in the transnational Kootenay River Basin. Report to BC Parks
Menounos, B., Pelto, B.M., Erler, A.R., Moore, R.D., Weber F., Hutchinson, D.G., Brahney, J. (2020) Glaciers in the Canadian Columbia Basin, Technical Report
Crawford, J., Hinckley, E.S., Litaor, I, Brahney, J., Neff, J. (2019) Evidence for accelerated weathering and sulfate export in high alpine environments. Environmental Research Letters 14(12), 124092
Brahney, J., Menounos, B., Wei, A., Curtis., P.J. (2017) Determining annual cryosphere storage contributions to streamflow
using historical hydrometric records. Hydrologic Processes 31(8) 1590-1601
Brahney, J., Weber, F., Foord, V., Janmaat, J., Curtis. P.J. (2017) Evidence for a climate-driven hydrologic regime shift in the
Canadian Columbia Basin. Canadian Water Resources Journal 42(2) 179-192
Brahney, J. (2014). Water Quality and Quantity in the Columbia Basin: Review and Recommendations. Water Resources partnership
between the Columbia Basin Trust and the University of British Columbia, Okanagan.
++Brahney undergraduate/technician researcher, **Brahney graduate researcher
+Undergraduate researcher, *graduate researcher, φpost-doctoral researcher
**Clancy, N.G., Brahney, J., Dunnigan, J., Budy, P. (2021) Effects of a diatom ecosystem engineer on stream food webs: implications for native fishes. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
Brahney, J., Bothwell, M., **Capito, L., Gray, C., Null, S., Menounos, G., Curtis, P.J. (2020) Glacier recession alters stream water quality characteristics facilitating bloom formation in the benthic diatom Didymosphenia geminata. Science of the Total Environment
Wu. R., Dong, Z., Cheng. X., Brahney, J., Jiao, X., Wu, L. (2022) Heavy metal levels and sources in suspended particulate matters of the glacier watersheds in Northeast Tibetan Plateau. Frontiers in Environmental Science.
*McKnight, E., Swanson, H., Brahney, J., Hik, D. (2021) The physical and chemical limnology of Yukon’s largest lake: Lhu aan Man (Kluane Lake) prior to the 2016 ‘A’ay Chu’ diversion. Arctic Science 1-24
Dong, Z., Brahney, J., Kang, S., Elser, J., Wei, T., Jiao, X., Shao, Y. (2020). Aeolian dust transport, cycles, and influences in the high-elevation cryosphere of the Tibetan Plateau region: new evidence from alpine snow and ice. Earth Science Reviews 103408
Elser, J.J, Wu, C., Gonzales, A., Shain, D., Smith, H.J., Sommaruga, R., Williamson, C.E., Brahney, J., Hotaling, S., Vanderwall, J., Yu, J., Aizen V., Aizen, E., Battin, T.J., Camassa, R., Feng, Xiu., Jiang, H., Lu, L., Qu, J., Ren, Z., Wen, J., Wen, L, Woods, H.A., Xiong, X. Xu, J., Yu, G., Harper, J.T., Saros, J.E. (2020) Rules of life and the fading cryosphere: impacts in alpine lakes and streams. Global Change Biology 26(12), 6644-6656
**Clancy, N.G., Brahney, J., Curtis, J., Budy, P. (2020) Consequences of Didymo blooms in the transnational Kootenay River Basin. Report to BC Parks
Menounos, B., Pelto, B.M., Erler, A.R., Moore, R.D., Weber F., Hutchinson, D.G., Brahney, J. (2020) Glaciers in the Canadian Columbia Basin, Technical Report
Crawford, J., Hinckley, E.S., Litaor, I, Brahney, J., Neff, J. (2019) Evidence for accelerated weathering and sulfate export in high alpine environments. Environmental Research Letters 14(12), 124092
Brahney, J., Menounos, B., Wei, A., Curtis., P.J. (2017) Determining annual cryosphere storage contributions to streamflow
using historical hydrometric records. Hydrologic Processes 31(8) 1590-1601
Brahney, J., Weber, F., Foord, V., Janmaat, J., Curtis. P.J. (2017) Evidence for a climate-driven hydrologic regime shift in the
Canadian Columbia Basin. Canadian Water Resources Journal 42(2) 179-192
Brahney, J. (2014). Water Quality and Quantity in the Columbia Basin: Review and Recommendations. Water Resources partnership
between the Columbia Basin Trust and the University of British Columbia, Okanagan.