scholarly journals Effects of Vertical Spatial Overlap on Phytoplankton Diversity under Experimentally Altered Lake Stratification Regimes

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 2447
Author(s):  
Philippe Le Noac’h ◽  
Vincent Ouellet Jobin ◽  
Beatrix E. Beisner

In phytoplankton communities, competitive exclusion might occur when functionally similar species are impeded from regulating their positions along light and nutrient gradients to reduce niche overlap. Greater spatial overlap (SO) between species due to water column mixing could thus promote competitive exclusion, reducing community taxonomic diversity. However, greater SO could also promote coexistence of functionally different taxa. Using data from a whole-lake experiment, we investigated the effects of SO and other relevant environmental factors on phytoplankton diversity across the water columns of lake basins with different thermocline manipulations. We estimated SO using an in situ fluorometer, and overall community diversity microscopically. Using structured equation models, we estimated directional relationships between phytoplankton diversity, SO, the lake physical structure and the zooplankton community. No significant effect of SO on phytoplankton taxonomic diversity was observed, but higher SO was associated with greater functional diversity. Change in lake physical structure and in the zooplankton community also affected diversity, with a negative response to increased top-down interactions. Overall, despite the fact that the alteration of water column stratification structure and top-down interactions were stronger drivers of phytoplankton diversity in our system, some effect of spatial overlap on the outcome of inferred competitive interactions were observable.

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 2269-2274
Author(s):  
IOAN PĂCEŞILĂ ◽  
EMILIA RADU

Phosphorus is one of the most important inorganic nutrients in aquatic ecosystems, the development and functioning of the phytoplankton communities being often correlated with the degree of availability in assimilable forms of this element. Alkaline phosphatase (AP) is an extracellular enzyme with nonspecific activity that catalyses the hydrolysis of a large variety of organic phosphate esters and release orthophosphates. During 2011-2013, AP Activity (APA) was assessed in the water column and sediments of several aquatic ecosystems from Danube Delta: Roșu Lake, Mândra Lake and their adjacent channels – Roșu-Împuțita and Roșu-Puiu. The intensity of APA widely fluctuated, ranging between 230-2578 nmol p-nitrophenol L-1h-1 in the water column and 2104-15631 nmol p-nitrophenol g-1h-1 in sediment. Along the entire period of the study, APA was the most intense in Roșu-Împuțita channel, for both water and sediment samples. Temporal dynamics revealed its highest values in summer for the water column and in autumn for sediment. Statistical analysis showed significant seasonal diferences of the APA dynamics in spring vs. summer and autumn for the water column, and any relevant diferences for sediment.


2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (10) ◽  
pp. eaat5091 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haijun Song ◽  
Paul B. Wignall ◽  
Alexander M. Dunhill

The Permian-Triassic mass extinction was the worst crisis faced by life; it killed >90% of marine species in less than 0.1 million years (Ma). However, knowledge of its macroecological impact over prolonged time scales is limited. We show that marine ecosystems dominated by non-motile animals shifted to ones dominated by nektonic groups after the extinction. In Triassic oceans, animals at high trophic levels recovered faster than those at lower levels. The top-down rebuilding of marine ecosystems was still underway in the latest Triassic, ~50 Ma after the extinction, and contrasts with the ~5-Ma recovery required for taxonomic diversity. The decoupling between taxonomic and ecological recoveries suggests that a process of vacant niche filling before reaching the maximum environmental carrying capacity is independent of ecosystem structure building.


Author(s):  
Didier L. Baho ◽  
Stina Drakare ◽  
Richard K. Johnson ◽  
Craig R. Allen ◽  
David G. Angeler

<p>Research focusing on biodiversity responses to the interactions of ecosystem size and anthropogenic stressors are based mainly on correlative gradient studies, and may therefore confound size-stress relationships due to spatial context and differences in local habitat features across ecosystems. We investigated how local factors related to anthropogenic stressors (<em>e.g.,</em> eutrophication) interact with ecosystem size to influence species diversity. In this study, constructed lake mesocosms (with two contrasting volumes: 1020 (shallow mesocosms) and 2150 (deep mesocosms) litres) were used to simulate ecosystems of different size and manipulated nutrient levels to simulate mesotrophic and hypertrophic conditions. Using a factorial design, we assessed how the interaction between ecosystem size and nutrients influences phytoplankton diversity. We assessed community metrics (richness, diversity, evenness and total biovolumes) and multivariate community structure over a growing season (May to early November 2011). Different community structures were found between deep and shallow mescosoms with nutrient enrichment: Cyanobacteria dominated in the deep and Charophyta in the shallow mesocosms. In contrast, phytoplankton communities were more similar to each other in the low nutrient treatments; only Chlorophyta had generally a higher biovolume in the shallow compared to the deep mesocosms. These results suggest that ecosystem size is not only a determinant of species diversity, but that it can mediate the influence of anthropogenic effects on biodiversity. Such interactions increase the uncertainty of global change outcomes, and should therefore not be ignored in risk/impact assessment and management.</p>


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Niklas Macher ◽  
Berry B. van der Hoorn ◽  
Katja T. C. A. Peijnenburg ◽  
Lodewijk van Walraven ◽  
Willem Renema

AbstractZooplankton are key players in marine ecosystems, linking primary production to higher trophic levels. The high abundance and high taxonomic diversity renders zooplankton ideal for biodiversity monitoring. However, taxonomic identification of the zooplankton assemblage is challenging due to its high diversity, subtle morphological differences and the presence of many meroplanktonic species, especially in coastal seas. Molecular techniques such as metabarcoding can help with rapid processing and identification of taxa in complex samples, and are therefore promising tools for identifying zooplankton communities. In this study, we applied metabarcoding of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I gene to zooplankton samples collected along a latitudinal transect in the North Sea, a shelf sea of the Atlantic Ocean. Northern regions of the North Sea are influenced by inflow of oceanic Atlantic waters, whereas the southern parts are characterised by more coastal waters. Our metabarcoding results indicated strong differences in zooplankton community composition between northern and southern areas of the North Sea, particularly in the classes Copepoda, Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes) and Polychaeta. We compared these results to the known distributions of species reported in previous studies, and by comparing the abundance of copepods to data obtained from the Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR). We found that our metabarcoding results are mostly congruent with the reported distribution and abundance patterns of zooplankton species in the North Sea. Our results highlight the power of metabarcoding to rapidly assess complex zooplankton samples, and we suggest that the technique could be used in future monitoring campaigns and biodiversity assessments.HighlightsZooplankton communities are different in northern and southern areas of the North SeaMetabarcoding results are consistent with known species distributions and abundanceMetabarcoding allows for fast identification of meroplanktonic species


2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-26
Author(s):  
Dorota Richter ◽  
Paulina Bączek

Abstract The subject of this study is to analyse changes in the taxonomic structure and development intensity of phytoplankton and, thus, to determine the diversity of cyanobacteria and algae along with the trophy state of two oxbow lakes in the Wrocław area (south-western Poland). The analysis of samples and data from previous years showed a total of 244 cyanobacteria and algae species within these two lakes. The species composition changed significantly in both of them – there were found 90 species new to the studied flora (37% of current flora) and 74 species which were previously recorded. The diversity of cyanobacteria and algae reflects the conditions in these water bodies and each change in ecological conditions (e.g., anthropological dangers) is reflected by a change in the phytoplankton assemblage structure. Consequently, knowledge of taxonomic diversity is useful in monitoring water bodies to preserve them in good conditions. Both studied oxbow lakes belong to eutrophic ecosystems as evidenced by their phycoflora, which is rich in species characteristic of high-trophy water, and recorded water blooms. The analysis of changes in cyanobacterial and algal assemblages in these lakes was also a basis for determining their trophy and finding it to be progressively eutrophic. Regular phycological studies of Wrocław numerous water bodies are essential and, in the future, will allow us to protect them and to react quickly in case of danger to these ecosystems. It will also allow us to study eutrophication processes in the water bodies that are crucial to the city.


2006 ◽  
Vol 63 (7) ◽  
pp. 1536-1548 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul D Eastwood ◽  
Sami Souissi ◽  
Stuart I Rogers ◽  
Roger A Coggan ◽  
Craig J Brown

Acoustic technologies yield many benefits for mapping the physical structure of seabed environments but are not ideally suited to classifying associated biological assemblages. We tested this assumption using benthic infauna data collected off the south coast of England by applying top-down (supervised) and bottom-up (unsupervised) classification approaches. The top-down approach was based on an a priori acoustic classification of the seabed followed by characterization of the acoustic regions using ground-truth biological samples. By contrast, measures of similarity between the ground-truth infaunal community data formed the basis of the bottom-up approach to assemblage classification. For both approaches, individual assemblages were mapped by first computing Bayesian conditional probabilities for ground-truth stations to estimate the probability of each station belonging to an assemblage. Assemblage distributions were then interpolated over a regular grid and characterized using an indicator value index. While the two methods of classification yielded assemblages and output maps that were broadly comparable, the bottom-up approach arrived at a slightly better defined set of biological assemblages. This suggests that acoustically derived seabed data are not ideally suited to class ifying biological assemblages over unconsolidated sediments, despite offering considerable advantages in providing rapid and low-cost assessments of seabed physical structure.


2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 2007-2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Luo ◽  
F. Yu

Abstract. A numerical evaluation of global oceanic emissions of α-pinene and isoprene based on both "bottom-up" and "top-down" methods is presented. We infer that the global "bottom-up" oceanic emissions of α-pinene and isoprene are 0.013 TgC yr−1 and 0.32 TgC yr−1, respectively. By constraining global chemistry model simulations with the shipborne measurement of Organics over the Ocean Modifying Particles in both Hemispheres summer cruise, we derived the global "top-down" oceanic α-pinene source of 29.5 TgC yr−1 and isoprene source of 11.6 TgC yr−1. Both the "bottom-up" and "top-down" values are subject to large uncertainties. The incomplete understanding of the in-situ phytoplankton communities and their range of emission potentials significantly impact the estimated global "bottom-up" oceanic emissions, while the estimated total amounts of the global "top-down" oceanic sources can be influenced by emission parameterizations, model and input data spatial resolutions, boundary layer mixing processes, and the treatments of chemical reactions. The global oceanic α-pinene source and its impact on organic aerosol formation is significant based on "top-down" method, but is negligible based on "bottom-up" approach. Our research highlights the importance of carrying out further research (especially measurements) to resolve the large offset in the derived oceanic organic emission based on two different approaches.


Author(s):  
R. P. Harris ◽  
L. Fortier ◽  
R. K. Young

A large-volume pump system (2.8 m3 min-1) for sampling fish larvae under open-sea conditions is described. Comparative efficiency trials by day and night showed that the pump was generally as efficient, or in some cases more efficient, in capturing larvae than vertically hauled 200 μm WP2 nets, though there was some evidence of visual avoidance by particular larval size classes during daylight. The pump system is particularly appropriate for investigating fine-scale vertical aggregations (1–10 m3) of larval fish in relation to the distribution of their food organisms.INTRODUCTIONStudies of the distribution of larval fish and their food organisms in relation to physical structure in the water column require sampling techniques capable of resolving fine-scale temporal and spatial distributions. As an alternative to conventional nets, large-volume pumps, sampling at rates in excess of 1 m3 min-1; provide such a capability. Major benefits of using large pumps in addition to temporal and spatial resolution are that a wide range of sizes of plankton including larval fish can be sampled simultaneously in relation to physical and chemical properties of the water column; there is reliable control of the volume of sample filtered and problems of clogging of towed nets are avoided; long series of sequential samples can be taken in studies of small-scale distribution; and instrumentation with in situ CTD and fluorometers at the intake enables real-time control of sampling in relation to physical structure.General engineering considerations for using such pumps have been reviewed in detail by Miller & Judkins (1981), and a particular area of application has been in power-plant entrainment studies in shallow fresh water (Portner & Rhode, 1977; Bowles & Merriner, 1978; Gale & Mohr, 1978; Ney & Schumacher, 1978; Elder et al. 1979; Leithiser, Ehrlich & Thum, 1979; Cada & Loar, 1982).


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document