In the 1980s, the Great Salt Lake in Utah covered an area larger than Rhode Island. Now it has shrunk to less than half that size. Without major changes in local water use, it’s possible that it could dry up completely before the end of this decade. “Right now, the Great Salt Lake is on life support,” says Ben Abbott, an ecosystem ecologist at Brigham Young University. The ecosystem could collapse even before the water disappears. As the lake shrinks, the water is getting saltier, making it harder for the brine shrimp that live there to survive—and meaning that the 10 million birds that migrate through the area may soon have nothing to eat. The shrinking coastline means that former islands are now connected to land, and wildlife face new predators; this year, pelicans that used to raise young on one former island were forced to abandon it.