Climate change is modifying the thermal structure of lakes around the globe. In this module, students will learn how to use a lake model to explore the effects of altered weather on lakes, and then develop their own climate scenarios to test hypotheses about how lakes may change in the future.
Phytoplankton blooms emerge through cross-scale interactions between climate and land use drivers across local to continental scales. In this module, students will explore how changes in climate and land use alter lakes, with the goal of predicting how these local and regional drivers will interact to promote or suppress phytoplankton.
Ecosystems can be influenced via teleconnections, in which meteorological, societal, and/or ecological changes in one region affect climate and associated ecological responses in a distant region. In this module, students will explore how distant drivers interact with local lake characteristics to affect water temperatures and ice cover in different lakes.
Ecological forecasting is an emerging approach which provides an estimate of the future state of an ecological system with uncertainty, allowing society to prepare for changes in important ecosystem services. In this module, students will apply the iterative forecasting cycle to develop an ecological forecast for a National Ecological Observation Network (NEON) site.
cological forecasting is an emerging approach which allows society to preemptively prepare for fluctuations in important ecosystem services. Forecasts that are effectively designed and communicated to managers and the public will be most effective in realizing their potential for protecting natural resources.