Climate change effect on hydrological and chemical parameters of shallow lakes of the Danube Delta (Romania)

The unique mosaic of ecosystems of the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve, comprising an extensive network of channels, shallow pools and hundreds of lakes, combined with marshes, reed-beds, lagoons, islands and floodplains, form a valuable natural area, sheltering a high biodiversity. One of the main drivers of the functionality of these ecosystems is the climate change, affecting especially the shallow lakes, where increasing temperatures and the reduced precipitation level, particularly in summer, affect the hydrology and chemistry of these lakes, inducing cascading effects at ecosystem level. Due to the very low precipitation ratio in the area, these ecosystems rely almost entirely on the discharge and water quality of the Danube River, who recorded a declining trend in the last decades, accelerating the changes occurred at lakes level. This study aims to present some of the changes driven by climate change in selected shallow lakes and recommend measures to increase their resilience to cope with this impact.