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Global change

The heat on Lake Tanganyika

Nature volume 424, pages 731–732 (2003)Cite this article

Warming of surface waters and declining fish catches in Lake Tanganyika have been linked to global climate change. The impact of global warming on natural ecosystems may be starting to affect local economies.

The effects of global climate change on ecosystems and the geographical distribution of species are already clearly visible1,2, but concrete examples of their impact on the livelihood of sizeable human populations are still scarce. Now two groups — Verburg et al. writing in Science3 and O'Reilly et al. on page 766 of this issue4 — have combined documentary and field data on long-term ecosystem dynamics in Lake Tanganyika, East Africa, to show how increased heat accumulation by this deep tropical lake, linked to climate warming, has led to a marked reduction in fish yields.

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Figure 1: Lake Tanganyika, seen from the Burundi highlands.

D. VERSCHUREN

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  1. Department of Biology, Ghent University, Ledeganckstraat 35, Gent, B-9000, Belgium

    Dirk Verschuren

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  1. Dirk Verschuren
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Verschuren, D. The heat on Lake Tanganyika. Nature 424, 731–732 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/424731a

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/424731a

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