Increasing Water Temperature Triggers Dominance of Small Freshwater Plankton.
Climate change scenarios predict that lake water temperatures will increase up to 4°C and rainfall events will become more intense and frequent by the end of this century. Concurrently, supply of humic substances from terrestrial runoff is expected to increase, resulting in darker watercolor ("...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2015-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0140449 |
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| author | Serena Rasconi Andrea Gall Katharina Winter Martin J Kainz |
| author_facet | Serena Rasconi Andrea Gall Katharina Winter Martin J Kainz |
| author_sort | Serena Rasconi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Climate change scenarios predict that lake water temperatures will increase up to 4°C and rainfall events will become more intense and frequent by the end of this century. Concurrently, supply of humic substances from terrestrial runoff is expected to increase, resulting in darker watercolor ("brownification") of aquatic ecosystems. Using a multi-seasonal, low trophic state mesocosm experiment, we investigated how higher water temperature and brownification affect plankton community composition, phenology, and functioning. We tested the hypothesis that higher water temperature (+3°C) and brownification will, a) cause plankton community composition to shift toward small sized phytoplankton and cyanobacteria, and, b) extend the length of the growing season entailing higher phytoplankton production later in the season. We demonstrate that the 3°C increase of water temperature favored the growth of heterotrophic bacteria and small sized autotrophic picophytoplankton cells with significantly higher primary production during warmer fall periods. However, 3X darker water (effect of brownification) caused no significant changes in the plankton community composition or functioning relative to control conditions. Our findings reveal that increased temperature change plankton community structure by favoring smaller sized species proliferation (autotrophic phytoplankton and small size cladocerans), and increase primary productivity and community turnover. Finally, results of this multi-seasonal experiment suggest that warming by 3°C in aquatic ecosystems of low trophic state may cause planktonic food web functioning to become more dominated by fast growing, r-trait species (i.e., small sizes and rapid development). |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-fb9f621b95ba4eb7a1d552fb8442f939 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2015-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj-art-fb9f621b95ba4eb7a1d552fb8442f9392025-08-20T03:10:03ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032015-01-011010e014044910.1371/journal.pone.0140449Increasing Water Temperature Triggers Dominance of Small Freshwater Plankton.Serena RasconiAndrea GallKatharina WinterMartin J KainzClimate change scenarios predict that lake water temperatures will increase up to 4°C and rainfall events will become more intense and frequent by the end of this century. Concurrently, supply of humic substances from terrestrial runoff is expected to increase, resulting in darker watercolor ("brownification") of aquatic ecosystems. Using a multi-seasonal, low trophic state mesocosm experiment, we investigated how higher water temperature and brownification affect plankton community composition, phenology, and functioning. We tested the hypothesis that higher water temperature (+3°C) and brownification will, a) cause plankton community composition to shift toward small sized phytoplankton and cyanobacteria, and, b) extend the length of the growing season entailing higher phytoplankton production later in the season. We demonstrate that the 3°C increase of water temperature favored the growth of heterotrophic bacteria and small sized autotrophic picophytoplankton cells with significantly higher primary production during warmer fall periods. However, 3X darker water (effect of brownification) caused no significant changes in the plankton community composition or functioning relative to control conditions. Our findings reveal that increased temperature change plankton community structure by favoring smaller sized species proliferation (autotrophic phytoplankton and small size cladocerans), and increase primary productivity and community turnover. Finally, results of this multi-seasonal experiment suggest that warming by 3°C in aquatic ecosystems of low trophic state may cause planktonic food web functioning to become more dominated by fast growing, r-trait species (i.e., small sizes and rapid development).https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0140449 |
| spellingShingle | Serena Rasconi Andrea Gall Katharina Winter Martin J Kainz Increasing Water Temperature Triggers Dominance of Small Freshwater Plankton. PLoS ONE |
| title | Increasing Water Temperature Triggers Dominance of Small Freshwater Plankton. |
| title_full | Increasing Water Temperature Triggers Dominance of Small Freshwater Plankton. |
| title_fullStr | Increasing Water Temperature Triggers Dominance of Small Freshwater Plankton. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Increasing Water Temperature Triggers Dominance of Small Freshwater Plankton. |
| title_short | Increasing Water Temperature Triggers Dominance of Small Freshwater Plankton. |
| title_sort | increasing water temperature triggers dominance of small freshwater plankton |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0140449 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT serenarasconi increasingwatertemperaturetriggersdominanceofsmallfreshwaterplankton AT andreagall increasingwatertemperaturetriggersdominanceofsmallfreshwaterplankton AT katharinawinter increasingwatertemperaturetriggersdominanceofsmallfreshwaterplankton AT martinjkainz increasingwatertemperaturetriggersdominanceofsmallfreshwaterplankton |