Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Saline lakes are hypersensitive to changes in their water balance and therefore show amplified responses to climatic and land-use changes in their catchment. Despite often dramatic ecological impacts, saline lakes rank low on policy agendas as they are assumed to support few ecosystem services and low levels of biodiversity. Here, we challenge this view and evaluate ecosystem services and threatened species in 85 saline lakes distributed across the globe. We show that saline lakes support, additionally to threatened aquatic biota, a diverse range of red-listed terrestrial species that contribute together with a large beta diversity to their conservation value. Further, our results highlight that saline lakes provide a number of culturally and economically important ecosystem services but several of them are 'hidden' and difficult to quantify. We conclude our analysis with best-practice recommendations for sustainable management of saline lakes. Their local adaptation and implementation will be key for safeguarding biodiversity and ecosystem services of these valuable and highly sensitive ecosystems.
Source: Nature Communications
Authors: Alfred Burian, Ramesh Wilson, Bakhtiyor Karimov, Brian Timms, Seema Kulshreshtha, Larisa Golovatuyk, Irina Kalioujnaia, Thomas Zechmeister, Katrin Teubner, Lothar Krienitz, Marta Sanchez, Maria Eugenia Farias, John M Melack, Oksana Lipka, Peri Coleman, Ricardo Cavicchioli, Katia Hueso-Kortekaas, Nickolai Shadrin, Elena Anufriieva, Svetlana Ulanova, Zorigto Namsaraev, Somayeh Sima, Michael Schagerl, David Ryves, Emilio Casamayor, Christopher Rogers, Sandra Poikane, Ilga Kokorite, Anastasia Komova, Evgeniya Matyugina, Emil Boros, Alba Camacho-Santamans, Antonio Camacho, Anna Santamans, Daniel Morant, Tania Anderson, Luciana Gomes Barbosa, Enrique Bucher, Tadesse Fetahi, Elena Selivanova, Peter Hudson, Edmumdo Moreno, María Colla, Bindy Datson, Ors Abram, Keely Mills, Wayne Wurtsbaugh, Bonnie Baxter, Ron Larson, Charitos Zapitis, Xiaobo Chao, Pavel Kratina, Can Zhang, Michael Beckmann, Alicia Vignatti, Santiago Echaniz, Jill Johnston, María Alfonso, Nicolás Vidal Quini, Nurgül Balci, Javier Alcocer Durand, Quentin Mauvisseau, Aharon Oren, Yuri Bazhenov, Balzhit Bazarova, Ekaterina Afonina, Natalya Tashlykova, Svetlana Borzenko, Gazhit Tsybekmitova, Egor Zadereev
Institutions: Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, University of Oxford, Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Agricultural Mechanization Engineers, UNSW Sydney, Institute of Biology of Inland Waters named Ivan Dmitrievich Papanin, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Biologische Station Neusiedler See, University of Vienna, Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Estación Biológica de Doñana, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Planta Piloto de Procesos Industriales Microbiológicos, Universidad Pontificia Comillas, A.O. Kovalevsky Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas, Kurchatov Institute, Tarbiat Modares University, Loughborough University, Joint Research Centre, Joint Research Centre, Joint Research Centre, University of Latvia, Institute of Natural Resources, Ecology and Cryology, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, HUN-REN Centre for Ecological Research, Universitat de Barcelona, Universitat de València, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Addis Ababa University, Institute of Cellular and Intracellular Symbiosis, South Australian Museum, Universidad Nacional del Altiplano, Magyar Agrár- és Élettudományi Egyetem, British Geological Survey, Utah State University, Natural England, University of Mississippi, Queen Mary University of London, Universidad Nacional de La Pampa, Kyushu University, Research Institute for Applied Mechanics, Kyushu University, Universidad Nacional del Sur, Istanbul Technical University, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, University of Oslo, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Institute of Biophysics
Language: English
Subfield: Ecology
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Life on land
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $6,990
OpenAlex ID: W7207589388