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Climate warming reduces fish production and benthic habitat in Lake Tanganyika, one of the most biodiverse freshwater ecosystems

Overview of attention for article published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, August 2016
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About this Attention Score

  • In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (99th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (94th percentile)

Mentioned by

news
35 news outlets
blogs
6 blogs
policy
3 policy sources
twitter
64 X users
facebook
8 Facebook pages
wikipedia
1 Wikipedia page

Citations

dimensions_citation
120 Dimensions

Readers on

mendeley
252 Mendeley
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Title
Climate warming reduces fish production and benthic habitat in Lake Tanganyika, one of the most biodiverse freshwater ecosystems
Published in
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, August 2016
DOI 10.1073/pnas.1603237113
Pubmed ID
Authors

Andrew S. Cohen, Elizabeth L. Gergurich, Benjamin M. Kraemer, Michael M. McGlue, Peter B. McIntyre, James M. Russell, Jack D. Simmons, Peter W. Swarzenski

Abstract

Warming climates are rapidly transforming lake ecosystems worldwide, but the breadth of changes in tropical lakes is poorly documented. Sustainable management of freshwater fisheries and biodiversity requires accounting for historical and ongoing stressors such as climate change and harvest intensity. This is problematic in tropical Africa, where records of ecosystem change are limited and local populations rely heavily on lakes for nutrition. Here, using a ∼1,500-y paleoecological record, we show that declines in fishery species and endemic molluscs began well before commercial fishing in Lake Tanganyika, Africa's deepest and oldest lake. Paleoclimate and instrumental records demonstrate sustained warming in this lake during the last ∼150 y, which affects biota by strengthening and shallowing stratification of the water column. Reductions in lake mixing have depressed algal production and shrunk the oxygenated benthic habitat by 38% in our study areas, yielding fish and mollusc declines. Late-20th century fish fossil abundances at two of three sites were lower than at any other time in the last millennium and fell in concert with reduced diatom abundance and warming water. A negative correlation between lake temperature and fish and mollusc fossils over the last ∼500 y indicates that climate warming and intensifying stratification have almost certainly reduced potential fishery production, helping to explain ongoing declines in fish catches. Long-term declines of both benthic and pelagic species underscore the urgency of strategic efforts to sustain Lake Tanganyika's extraordinary biodiversity and ecosystem services.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 64 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 252 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
United States 2 <1%
Rwanda 2 <1%
Canada 1 <1%
Tanzania, United Republic of 1 <1%
Netherlands 1 <1%
Belgium 1 <1%
Unknown 244 97%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 51 20%
Researcher 38 15%
Student > Master 38 15%
Student > Bachelor 16 6%
Student > Postgraduate 13 5%
Other 44 17%
Unknown 52 21%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Environmental Science 68 27%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 61 24%
Earth and Planetary Sciences 24 10%
Social Sciences 9 4%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 5 2%
Other 27 11%
Unknown 58 23%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 373. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 30 June 2023.
All research outputs
#82,309
of 25,067,172 outputs
Outputs from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
#1,914
of 102,312 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#1,782
of 373,770 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
#46
of 886 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,067,172 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 99th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 102,312 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 39.0. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 98% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 373,770 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 886 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 94% of its contemporaries.