Lakes

The Pyrenees region is experiencing a warming rate higher than the global average, making it a critical observatory for the impacts of climate change. Researchers from Spain, Andorra and France have begun efforts to chart the biodiversity of microorganisms living under the surface of 300 different lakes across the Pyrenees. The initiative will shed light on how invisible communities maintain the health of these unique and fragile ecosystems, helping the region prepare and adapt for the long-term impacts of climate change.

A recent study led by CIBIO, the University of the Azores, CSIC and CREAF shows that the navigations of the Vikings could have taken them to the Azores about 700 years before the arrival of the Portuguese. The results, published in the journal PNAS, have been obtained through sediment samples from different lakes and environmental reconstructions.

Jaume Terradas explains how an error in channeling the water of the Colorado River in California created a large artificial lake that, now, is endangered by the great water demand from the crop fields and nearby cities.