CHANGES IN PHYTOPLANKTON COMMUNITY COMPOSITION AND PHYTOPLANKTON CELL SIZE IN RESPONSE TO NITROGEN AVAILABILITY DEPEND ON TEMPERATURE
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Date
2022
Authors
Dashkova, Veronika
Malashenkov, Dmitry V.
Baishulakova, Assel
Davidson, Thomas A.
Vorobjev, Ivan A.
Jeppesen, Erik
Barteneva, Natasha S.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Microorganisms
Abstract
The climate-driven changes in temperature, in combination with high inputs of nutrients
through anthropogenic activities, significantly affect phytoplankton communities in shallow lakes.
This study aimed to assess the effect of nutrients on the community composition, size distribution,
and diversity of phytoplankton at three contrasting temperature regimes in phosphorus (P)–enriched
mesocosms and with different nitrogen (N) availability imitating eutrophic environments. We applied
imaging flow cytometry (IFC) to evaluate complex phytoplankton communities changes, particularly
size of planktonic cells, biomass, and phytoplankton composition. We found that N enrichment led
to the shift in the dominance from the bloom-forming cyanobacteria to the mixed-type blooming by
cyanobacteria and green algae. Moreover, the N enrichment stimulated phytoplankton size increase
in the high-temperature regime and led to phytoplankton size decrease in lower temperatures. A
combination of high temperature and N enrichment resulted in the lowest phytoplankton diversity.
Together these findings demonstrate that the net effect of N and P pollution on phytoplankton
communities depends on the temperature conditions. These implications are important for forecasting
future climate change impacts on the world’s shallow lake ecosystems.
Description
Keywords
Type of access: Open Access, phytoplankton, biodiversity, biovolume, cell size, eutrophication, mesocosm, temperature, nitrogen pollution, climate change, imaging flow cytometry
Citation
Dashkova, V., Malashenkov, D. V., Baishulakova, A., Davidson, T., Vorobjev, I. A., Jeppesen, E., & Barteneva, N. S. (2022). Changes in Phytoplankton Community Composition and Phytoplankton Cell Size in Response to Nitrogen Availability Depend on Temperature. Microorganisms, 10(7), 1322. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms10071322