Webbläsaren som du använder stöds inte av denna webbplats. Alla versioner av Internet Explorer stöds inte längre, av oss eller Microsoft (läs mer här: * https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/windows/end-of-ie-support).

Var god och använd en modern webbläsare för att ta del av denna webbplats, som t.ex. nyaste versioner av Edge, Chrome, Firefox eller Safari osv.

Default user image.

Margarida Soares

Postdoktor

Default user image.

Phytoplankton diversity loss along a gradient of future warming and brownification in freshwater mesocosms

Författare

  • Pablo Urrutia-Cordero
  • Mattias K. Ekvall
  • Jens Ratcovich
  • Margarida Soares
  • Susanne Wilken
  • Huan Zhang
  • Lars Anders Hansson

Summary, in English

Globally, freshwater ecosystems are warming at unprecedented rates and northern temperate lakes are simultaneously experiencing increased runoff of humic substances (brownification), with little known consequences for future conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. We employed an outdoor mesocosm experiment during spring and summer to investigate the combined effects of gradually increasing warming and brownification perturbations on the phytoplankton community structure (biodiversity and composition) and functioning (biomass). While we did not observe overall significant treatment effects on total phytoplankton biomasses, we show that predicted increases in warming and brownification can reduce biodiversity considerably, occasionally up to 90% of Shannon diversity estimates. Our results demonstrate that the loss of biodiversity is driven by the dominance of mixotrophic algae (Dinobryon and Cryptomonas), whereas several other phytoplankton taxa may be temporarily displaced from the community, including Cyclotella, Desmodesmus, Monoraphidium, Tetraedron, Nitzschia and Golenkinia. The observed loss of biodiversity coincided with an increase in bacterial production providing resources for potential mixotrophs along the gradient of warming and brownification. This coupling between bacterial production and mixotrophs was likely a major cause behind the competitive displacement of obligate phototrophs and supports evidence for the importance of consumer–prey dynamics in shaping environmental impacts on phytoplankton communities. We conclude that warming and brownification are likely to cause a profound loss of biodiversity by indirectly affecting competitive interactions among phytoplankton taxa. Importantly, our results did not show an abrupt loss of biodiversity; instead the reduction in taxa richness levelled off after exceeding a threshold of warming and brownification. These results exemplify the complex nonlinear responses of biodiversity to environmental perturbations and provide further insights for predicting biodiversity patterns to the future warming and brownification of freshwaters.

Avdelning/ar

  • Enhet akvatisk ekologi
  • MEMEG
  • BECC: Biodiversity and Ecosystem services in a Changing Climate
  • Akvatisk ekologi

Publiceringsår

2017-11-01

Språk

Engelska

Sidor

1869-1878

Publikation/Tidskrift/Serie

Freshwater Biology

Volym

62

Issue

11

Dokumenttyp

Artikel i tidskrift

Förlag

Wiley-Blackwell

Ämne

  • Ecology

Nyckelord

  • biodiversity
  • climate change
  • food webs
  • mesocosms
  • phytoplankton

Status

Published

Forskningsgrupp

  • Aquatic Ecology

ISBN/ISSN/Övrigt

  • ISSN: 0046-5070