Germany: What a Lake Says About Climate Change
When the East German nuclear power plant Rheinsberg was shut down almost 20 years ago, environmentalists expected that fauna and flora in nearby Stechlin lake would survive without further damage.
by Julio Godoy
The power plant in the city 75 km north of Berlin had been functioning since 1966. It took some 300,000 cubic metres of water daily from the lagoon to cool down the facility’s installations. The water would then be released back into the lake — 10 degrees warmer.
Before the plant began to function scientists had declared the waters “the cleanest in Germany,” says Peter Casper, biochemist at the Institute Leibniz for Water Ecology in Stechlin.0911 06
There was no reason then to doubt their judgement. The lake is surrounded by pristine forests, without any agriculture use. The region is also scarcely populated, guaranteeing that no sewage was channelled into the lake.
Soon after the Rheinsberg nuclear power plant began operating, scientists began to find changes, Casper told IPS. “Algae and other micro-organisms started to grow very rapidly.” The fauna started to degenerate.
“This is what we call the divergent development of the food chain,” Casper said. “Not all living organisms in the lake reacted at the same speed to changes in the environment. Algae and other micro-organisms grow more rapidly, but also start and end their life cycle more rapidly. This means that fish, which feed on algae, and do not grow at the same new speed, are deprived of their food at a critical point in their growth.”
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http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/09/11/3763/