Laudon, Hjalmar and Sponseller, Ryan A. and Bishop, Kevin
(2021).
From legacy effects of acid deposition in boreal streams to future environmental threats.
Environmental Research Letters. 16
, 015007
[Journal article]
![]() |
PDF
2MB |
Abstract
Few environmental issues have resulted in such a heated policy-science controversy in Sweden as the 1990s acidification debate in the north of the country. The belief that exceptionally high stream acidity levels during hydrological events was caused by anthropogenic deposition resulted in a governmentally funded, multi-million dollar surface-water liming program. This program was heavily criticized by a large part of the scientific community arguing that the acidity of northern streams was primarily caused by naturally occurring organic acids. Here, we revisit the acid deposition legacy in northern Sweden two decades after the culmination of the controversy by examining the long-term water chemistry trends in the Svartberget/Krycklan research catchment that became a nexus for the Swedish debate. In this reference stream, trends in acidic episodes do show a modest recovery that matches declines in acid deposition to pre-industrial levels, although stream acidity continues to be overwhelmingly driven by organic acidity. Yet there are legacies of acid deposition related to calcium losses from soils, which are more pronounced than anticipated. Finally, assessment of these trends are becoming increasingly complicated by new changes and threats to water resources that must be recognized to avoid unnecessary, expensive, and potentially counterproductive measures to adapt and mitigate human influences. Here we make the argument that while the acidification era is ending, climate change, land-use transitions, and long-range transport of other contaminants warrant close monitoring in the decades to come.
Authors/Creators: | Laudon, Hjalmar and Sponseller, Ryan A. and Bishop, Kevin | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Title: | From legacy effects of acid deposition in boreal streams to future environmental threats | ||||||
Series Name/Journal: | Environmental Research Letters | ||||||
Year of publishing : | 2021 | ||||||
Volume: | 16 | ||||||
Article number: | 015007 | ||||||
Number of Pages: | 10 | ||||||
Publisher: | IOP PUBLISHING LTD | ||||||
ISSN: | 1748-9326 | ||||||
Language: | English | ||||||
Publication Type: | Journal article | ||||||
Article category: | Scientific peer reviewed | ||||||
Version: | Published version | ||||||
Copyright: | Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0 | ||||||
Full Text Status: | Public | ||||||
Subjects: | (A) Swedish standard research categories 2011 > 1 Natural sciences > 105 Earth and Related Environmental Sciences > Environmental Sciences (social aspects to be 507) (A) Swedish standard research categories 2011 > 1 Natural sciences > 105 Earth and Related Environmental Sciences > Oceanography, Hydrology, Water Resources | ||||||
Keywords: | legacy of acid deposition, recovery of episodic acidification, boreal streams, long-term monitoring, natural acidity, calcium depletion, brownification | ||||||
URN:NBN: | urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-p-110453 | ||||||
Permanent URL: | http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-p-110453 | ||||||
Additional ID: |
| ||||||
ID Code: | 22823 | ||||||
Faculty: | S - Faculty of Forest Sciences NJ - Fakulteten för naturresurser och jordbruksvetenskap | ||||||
Department: | (S) > Dept. of Forest Ecology and Management (NL, NJ) > Dept. of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment | ||||||
Deposited By: | SLUpub Connector | ||||||
Deposited On: | 22 Mar 2021 14:43 | ||||||
Metadata Last Modified: | 22 Mar 2021 14:51 |
Repository Staff Only: item control page